Rabu, 13 Agustus 2014

20 Wine Words Most Drinkers Don't Know

For most of us, knowing to simply say that we like a wine when we taste it is about as far as we go in using words to describe wine. But for a ton of wine professionals out there, there is a whole vocabulary of terms available of which they’re intimately familiar. And here is where the disconnect between average wine drinkers and wine professionals occurs. Wine drinkers ask said professional about a wine, and the words used to describe it are so foreign, it is as if they’re in a language the customer doesn’t speak. With that in mind, here is a list of 20 words the majority of wine drinkers have no experience with, and what they mean.

1. Austere
This is when a wine just doesn’t taste very good. It is harsh and acidic and has no fruit flavors whatsoever. Sometimes this can be because the wine is young, but often it can just be because it is poorly made and not “balanced.” Instead of saying Austere one could just as easily say the wine is harsh and tannic with no fruit flavors.
2. Chewy
When a wine is chewy, it means the tannins are so strong they severely dry out your mouth, causing you to chew in order to create saliva and moisten up your mouth. Simply saying the wine is drying out your mouth, causing you to need to make more salivia, is saying the same thing.
3. Balance
When everything works together in harmony, the fruit flavors, acidity, level of oak, etc., the wine is said to be balanced. Usually this is based on individual taste. This is a very desirable quality. If someone tells you the wine is balanced, it is probably delicious.
4. Closed
When a wine is closed it means it is not showing its full potential. Maybe it didn’t decant long enough, or for some wines, maybe it was still too young to be drunk. An alternative would be to say you think the wine is not ready to be drunk yet.
5. Barnyard
This means the wine smells like poop. It is usually not a favorable descriptor. Since the wine smells like poop, might as well just say so.
6. Fat
When a wine is fat it is big and ripe and just sort of sits in your mouth without any acidity to help balance it. Fat wine is not a wine you want to drink.
7. Earthy
The wine smells like dirt, leaves, and wood. It is also used to describe wines that have a finish that tastes similar to green vegetables.
8. Decadent
When the wine is just over the top awesome. Rich, delicious, the bomb.
9. Creamy
Used for white wines that were aged in oak. A wine that tastes buttery is creamy, so you can simply say you like buttery whites.
10. Malo
See creamy. When a wine has malo it has a buttery flavor. Many Chardonnays, especially from California, are said to have heavy malo.
11. Grip
Another word for saying the wine has a lot of strong tannins. It is a wine that dries your mouth out the second you take a sip — definitely a wine that would need to be drunk with food.
12. Hedonistic
Robert Parker‘s favorite word. Wines that just blow you away. Parker likes hedonistic, but you can just say the wine is damn amazing.
13. Hot
The wine is too high in alcohol—you can literally smell the alcohol vapors.
14. Lean
If a wine feels thin in your mouth, almost watery, they are said to be lean.
15. Minerality
Think the smell and taste of wet rocks. It is actually pretty difficult to pick out, and it is unclear if people actually taste it, or they just think they do. More often you’ll hear people say a wine has a nice minerality when that wine happens to come from a region known for imparting this characteristic in the wine, such as the Graves region of Bordeaux.
16. Jammy
Wines that have intense fruit flavors are said to be jammy. Many US wine drinkers love jammy wines because we associate the word with a berry sweetness, like cherry pie filling.
17. Ponderous
Another Parker word. When he calls a wine ponderous, he means it makes you think too much. It is too trying to enjoy. You could also just say, I don’t like this wine, there’s too much going on.
18. Woody
Wines that spend too much time in oak. Smelling them is like smelling a 2×4 or the sawdust on a woodshop floor. Woody wines overpower the smell of the fruit and are not desirable.
19. Velvety
A desirable characteristic in wine. Wines that are smooth, easy to drink, luscious and delicious. You could just as easily say you want to bathe in it. Think of George Costanza wanting to be draped in velvet.
20. Varietally Correct
When a wine tastes the way the majority of wine tasters think the grapes used to make that wine should taste. It is the fancy way of saying this Merlot tastes like really well made Merlot.
Originally from VinePair.com

Sabtu, 02 Agustus 2014

Ganesha

Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is a widely worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.
Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotesassociated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.
Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period, although he inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. He was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the Ganapatya arose, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.
Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri (Sanskrit: श्री; IAST: śrī; also spelled Sri or Shree) is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama, a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture venerating Ganesha.
The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana (Sanskrit: गण; IAST: gaṇa), meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha (Sanskrit: ईश; IAST: īśa), meaning lord or master.The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva (IAST: Śiva).The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati (Sanskrit: गणपति; IAST: gaṇapati), a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord".The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : VinayakaVighnarāja (equivalent to Vighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), HerambaLambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana (IAST:gajānana); having the face of an elephant).
Vinayaka (Sanskrit: विनायक; IAST: vināyaka) is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (aṣṭavināyaka).The names Vighnesha (Sanskrit: विघ्नेश; IAST: vighneśa) and Vighneshvara (विघ्नेश्वरvighneśvara) (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).
A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai (Tamilபிள்ளை) or Pillaiyar (பிள்ளையார்). A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallupella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant".
In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne, derived from Pali Mahā Wināyaka.The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived from Vara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.
In Sri Lanka, in the North-Central and North Western areas with predominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka Deviyo, while in other Singhala Buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.