Three Black Spots

Aligote 86

In the days when I worked in advertising, we were always astounded by the results from blind tests. We used to advertise for Forhans toothpaste, which everyone thought had a peculiar taste. We tried our best to call it distinct, and unique, the way we refer to some women as having personality. They all knew what we meant.

The 800 pound gorilla was Colgate. Test them against each other with all the finery on – the packaging, brand name and imagery, and Colgate had a very distinct minty, fresh flavor. While Forhans tasted like ‘an old people’s toothpaste’. Put them in blind tubes, and suddenly they both tasted more alike.

Recently, we did a blind test at home with white wine. Far more fun than toothpaste, and as fine an excuse as any to get well oiled. Two Indian, one French, one Chilean- all table wines. And voila, the Indian wines came out on top.

Do dogs respond to advertising and brand image? When they sit in front of the TV, are they taking in the jingles? Can they tell when a Boston Market commercial comes on? Do they salivate, as I do when Red Lobster is sizzling on the screen? Or do they just rely on their pure senses to guide them in matters of taste and smell?

Yoda can tell the difference between chicken , beef, veal and pork. He can certainly tell the difference between branded roast chicken and the regular home cooked kind. I don’t think he has seen any Tyson’s commercials recently, so it must be a visceral reaction to its fine taste.

He responds to Tandoori chicken, after the masalas have been washed out. He can recognize his bag of chewy treats being opened, though I am not sure if it is the bag’s color, the distinct sound that it makes as we unzip it , or the aroma.

He also knows when he is being conned. He can detect every attempt to sneak in a pill, or even a powdered pill into his food. We have seen him jeer at us, with a ‘Did you think you could fool me?’ look.

Mina’s mother was the first person to introduce Yoda to alcohol. She was fond of sherry, and used to dip her finger in her glass and offer it to him. Many licks later, her digit was wiped dry, and Yoda went off to a corner with a happy expression on his face.

He has turned his nose away from beer, not without getting a huge dollop of foam on it. And whisky has never held any fascination for him.

Wine is another matter altogether. In Burgundy, he was very attentive, but not particularly impressed by the big names. Corton Charlemagne, Puligny Montrachet, Chablis – he waltzed through the vineyards and cellars quite unmoved. Sniff, sneer and move on.

At the end of our trip we were in the Aligote region. In the Burgundy caste system, Aligote is very low on the totem pole. A light white, it is meant to be drunk very young, and quite often with Kir. We were doing a tasting in the garden of an owner, who very graciously pulled out a whole range of bottles for us. She got into the game of doing a taste test with Yoda. He was unmoved as she offered various recent vintages. Then came the acid test. She pulled out a bottle of 1986 vintage red, just over 20 years old. There was an anxious moment as she checked if it was still drinkable. And, indeed it was. Eminently so. In fact, unreasonably so.

Yoda thought so too. Of all the wines that had been offered to him that morning, this was the one that he lapped up. Two drops, then four, and he would have attacked the whole bottle if Mina had let him.

‘A true connoisseur’ – the highest accolade that the owner of a vineyard can bestow on anyone. Yoda preened, and slumped in the back seat, as we set off for Lyon.