"You know that if I was French, I'd have to kill you right now."
Josie gasped a little, but Dave just smiled and finished pouring out the wine. "If you were Roman, though, you'd thank me," he said. "Lots of ancient cultures put things in wine to improve the flavor-herbs, honey, even seawater." He slid the goblet across to Fiona, and poured another one for Josie.
Fiona grinned playfully. "But that was to disguise the taste of inferior vintages," she said. "You made this yourself-are you trying to tell us something?"
"Josie was right," Dave said with a chuckle, pouring out a glass for himself. "You do know your stuff. And no, I'm not hiding anything. I just figure that if I'm the one making it, I can do anything I feel like. Oh, that reminds me," he said, just as Josie took a swig. "It's a little bit stronger than the stuff you buy in a store. Careful you don't overdo it-this stuff can go to your head."
Fiona swirled the wine around in her glass for a long moment, deeply inhaling the aroma, before carefully taking a sip-more out of a desire to savor the taste than out of any worries about getting drunk. "Interesting," she said, after letting the wine roll across her tongue for a long moment. "It's sweeter than I'd expected it would be. Almost a dessert wine."
"It's got a little bit of honey," Dave said. "I know, I know, the French." He put his hands up in mock defensiveness. "I wanted to make sure it had the right flavor profile-the herbs are kind of strong-tasting on their own, and I didn't want them to overwhelm the taste of the wine. Like Mary Poppins said, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down."
Fiona took another drink. She shouldn't be enjoying needling Josie's friend so much, but it had been a long time since she'd talked to a fellow oenophile, especially one with a sense of humor. Most of her conversations about wine were with her customers, and she considered it a good omen if they didn't ask for a nice Chablis to go with their steak. When Josie mentioned that she had a friend who wanted them to try some homemade wine, Fiona felt a little bit like a parent having a night out without the kids.
She swished the wine around in her mouth a little, trying to pick up some of that herbal flavor that Dave talked about. It was definitely subtle-a slight hint of bitterness that cut across the acid notes of the wine as it attacked the tongue, mellowing slightly as she held it in her mouth for a long moment before swallowing. She understood perfectly why Dave thought the honey was necessary; without that sweetness, the bitterness of the herbs combined with the bitter finish of the wine would probably have left her setting it down without finishing it. As it was, she found it quite easy to drink.
So did Josie, she noticed. Her friend had already finished three-quarters of the glass and was taking another drink. Not exactly wine-tasting etiquette, but Dave seemed like he was just happy they were enjoying it. She saw him looking at her expectantly and smiled. "It's very good," she said. "The evolution is interesting-I thought I detected some notes of blackberry in there."
"You have good taste," Dave said with a broad smile. "Both literally and figuratively. I actually used blackberries as well as grapes. I tinker a lot with the recipe. I guess I'm sort of a mad scientist of wine."
"Evolution?" Josie leaned forward, tapping her empty glass meaningfully. "Like, wine that turns into a Pokemon or something?"
Dave poured her another glass. Obviously Josie wasn't worried about the drink going to her head. Then again, she could walk home. "No-well, not unless I really screwed something up in the recipe. 'Evolution' is one of those technical wine terms. Would you like to explain?"
Fiona held up her glass. "Certainly," she said, in tones of mock pomposity. "After all, I am a professional. There are three phases to the tasting of a fine wine. First, the attack." She took a swig of the wine, slightly larger than she intended to.
After swallowing, she continued. "The attack is the initial hit of flavor-how does the wine burst onto your tongue? What kind of an impression does it make?"
Josie took her own swig, even bigger than Fiona's. "Does 'yummy' count?"
Dave and Fiona both laughed. "Probably not for a formal wine tasting," Dave said, "but for purposes of hanging out with friends it's just fine."
"Then," Fiona continued, once the laughter had subsided a little, "you have the evolution." She took another swallow, this time holding the wine in her mouth for a moment. "That's where you let the wine sort of hang out in your mouth for a little while, so that you can pick up on the flavors that take a bit for you to notice. Like, did you get that herbal flavor Dave talked about? Or that fruity taste? Or the honey? That all comes out in the evolution."
