some questions about wine expressions

Here I have two sets of questions:

1.
"Excellent, let's wet our whistles."
"You don't want to get a motel first?"
"I need a bevie. Take the edge off."

I know that "wet our whistles" means that he would like to start drinking rightaway. But what does he mean by "bevie" and "take the edge off"?

2.
"Secondary malolactic fermentation converts the tarter malic acid and produces lactic acid: caramel, banana, dairy, not sweet, but a cloying appearance of sweetness. The French don't use ML as much in Burgundy."

What do caramel, banana and dairy mean here? That lactic acid has a color of caramel, smell of banana, and ... err... dairy?? Besides, what is ML mentioned here short for?

bevie = beverage
something that "takes the edge off" calms you down; soothes the nerves

Lactic acid can be fermented from lactose (milk sugar) or from carbohydrates such as cornstarch, bananas, potatoes or molasses. Brown sugar, milk and cornstarch are commonly used to make caramel.

ML = malolactate

btw, "wet one's whistle" simply means to have a drink, usually an alcoholic one.

Rex, a lot of times wine drinkers use the names of other foods (caramel, banana, raspberry) to try to describe the flavors in a particular wine. If you read wine reviews, you will often see descriptions like "A light, fruity vintage, with raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla notes, and a smooth finish."

Usually when you taste the stuff, you'll find that this is just a bunch of BS and it just tastes like fermented grape juice, but then I'm not a big fan of wine... ;)

Thanks! (I'm not a big fan of wine, either. Wines to me are just sweet or not. *_*)

Le goût n'est pas l'unique paramètre pour apprécier et caractériser un vin. Les arômes, la robe, la tenue etc en sont d'autres. C'est comme pour tout : le plaisir et l'expertise se cultivent — comme la vigne.

<<Wines to me are just sweet or not.>>

My sentiments exactly, Rex! Sweet and bearable, or dry and pour it down the sink, it might do the drains some good....

Hahah........may make sense, though, given how wines corrode our stomach...

One more question from the same paragraph:

I held up my wineglass. "This is a good quaff."
He smiled amiably. "Think I should spring for a few bottles?"

I managed to find out that "spring for" = To pay another's expenses.
But in here, is it saying that "he" is asking the narrator if he should buy a few bottles for this narrator? Sounds strange to me because ... aren't a few bottles too many to be a treat? Or he is saying that he may buy some back home to treat his future guests?

Speaking of wine, I saw loads of French people in town today. They are from Marseille. It is Bolton Wanderers VS Marseille at the Reebok Stadium in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup tonight, and they were here to watch the game.

They have such dark skin that I thought they were Kurds or Turks or Iranians at first. Then I realised that they are Marseille fans.

<<I held up my wineglass. "This is a good quaff."
He smiled amiably. "Think I should spring for a few bottles?"

I managed to find out that "spring for" = To pay another's expenses.
But in here, is it saying that "he" is asking the narrator if he should buy a few bottles for this narrator? Sounds strange to me because ... aren't a few bottles too many to be a treat? Or he is saying that he may buy some back home to treat his future guests?>>



No, you can "spring for" a purchase for yourself as well. It just implies that the purchase will be sort of a splurge, or impulsive purchase, probably expensive.