Talk:Claret

Comments

The original quote of Samuel Johnson not only was wrong, but contradicts his body of writing and well known negative opinion of claret...

"Johnson harangued upon the qualities of different liquors; and spoke with great contempt of claret, as so weak, that "a man would be drowned by it before it made him drunk." He was persuaded to drink one glass of it, that he might judge, not from recollection, which might be dim, but from immediate sensation. He shook his head, and said, "Poor stuff! No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy. In the first place, brandy is most grateful to the palate; and then brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him. There are, indeed, few who are able to drink brandy. That is a power rather to be wished for than attained."

Boswell: Life of Johnson --Cerejota 17:45, 7 February 2006 (UTC)--

Trivia Section

Are there ideas for the best way to work some of the details into the main article? It would be ideal to gradually phase out the trivia section, to lessen the impression of the article being trivial. Agne27 04:40, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I did some of this, but it still needs work, and I know little about wine. I'm not sure that the Catholic schools really belong there - this is an article about wine. Should they be put in a disambig/see also section, or axed altogether? Particularly the ones without wiki pages seem like the should probably be dispensed with. If they were notable, they'd have a page.--Spyforthemoon 21:14, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Revision: I made a disambiguation page, and most of the remaining trivia (plus a few other things) went there. The claret school mess is now appropriately at Claret School.--Spyforthemoon 21:49, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

The colour of claret

It must be noted that claret has not always been red. It used to be a rosé wine, hence the name: claret (English) coming from clairet (french), meaning pale. See the French or English Rosé wine pages for more information. I'd do it myself, but I'm a little out of time... --82.122.97.88 18:22, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

The following (now edited for spelling and grammar, and abbreviated due to the integration with an a separate addition) was removed since it seems rather dubious. It asserts that the wines *became* a light pink color due to a reaction during transportation, yet that would mean that the color was *not* originally a light pink color (ie, it was darker), but that would contradict the meaning of "clairet" in French, and would introduce the tacit assertion that "clairet" has undergone an evolution from a darker to a lighter wine (as "clairet" currently refers to a light pink Bordeaux), whereas "claret" would have undergone an evolution from a darker to lighter wine. The assertions, of course, have no references. The removed text follows:

Many of the wines that people thought were coming over were actually made in England, by a wine merchant in Bristol. The wines that were exported from Bordeaux were light pink in colour, due to a fading during the sea journey and were not macerated for long enough to become red wine.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.18.223.95 (talk) 08:43, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Mispronunciation

The mispronunciation of "claret" is not limited to United States English. 202.71.92.74 22:54, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 02:53, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Specific blend of Claret

I was once told at a cave in St. Emilion that, strictly speaking, Claret is red Bordeaux of a particular blend, originally made just for the British market as lighter alternative to Port. IIRC it was Cab. Franc 40%, Cab. Sauv. 30%, Merlot 20%, Malbec 10%, but I will stand corrected if anyone knows better. I have no idea whether such a distinction is still recognised, although it sounds like a blend that might still be produced in the Bordeaux area. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swiveler (talk • contribs) 06:53, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Could it be a reference to the old Bdx style Clairet, which is still produced? MURGH ^disc. 07:41, 4 October 2008 (UTC)