Going back in time, the liatiko grape, in the 2006 Economou Oikonomoy Liatiko Crete (£28.95, Vin Cognito), reveals a mature Grecian beauty, mahogany-hued with mellow rioja gran reserva texture and balsamic Mediterranean gaminess.
I smelled an entirely expectable animal gaminess, combined with a fish smell and something metallic that felt hot and slightly burning in my nose.
The meat was lean and white, without a hint of gaminess.
Little meatballs of lamb and goat cheese were succulent, though the cheese manifested itself mostly through a faint gaminess.
Males of all stripes (no pun intended) seem to have an atavistic thing for gaminess.
Tender wild boar in "dolceforte" is a harmonious blend of sweetness and pungent gaminess.
All this was evident in the curtain-raiser, Weber's "Freischütz" Overture, where the brass choirs had a touch of hunting-horn gaminess, and the strings produced a robust, taut, punchy tone.
Mushrooms are cooked down for hours, then roasted with sour cream, onion and dill until they achieve gaminess.
The puffin (harvested locally, the waitress promised) was sliced thin, its gaminess muted with litchi and fig. The minke whale, also finely carved, tasted like beef tenderloin with a faint metallic finish; it was savory and delicate when paired with an airy wasabi cream.
The ground meat is cooked with Chianti, vegetables, cloves and bay leaves to reduce the gaminess.
