Let’s face it there is way too much wine in the world…way too much to consume and consumption is declining in Europe due to driving laws, flat in U.S. being again replaced by beer…due to those new craft breweries not Bud or PBR.
The wine industry too follows fads: who can forget the Sideways effect on Pinot Noir and Merlot – both on demand (price) and store placement (Merlot went from eye level to the bottom shelf, replaced by Pinot Noir…and not all of it good…as was the majority of Merlot). Of course there is the rating ‘fad’ (?), such as this scenario:
Guy in tasting room: This wine is awful!
Salesperson: Really??? Parker gave it a 90!
Guy: I’ll take two cases!
You laugh but that is what happens. As TB has stressed here many times: you are your own best critic! …and guess what? That guy will probably serve it at a dinner to his friends, and guess what? Most of them won’t like it! TRUST YOUR PALETTE, it is the best wine critic in the world…for you…and will likely be in line with most people.
Most wine is drunk within hours of being purchased…not even long enough for the wine to get rested and refreshed, especially if it is a red! How about laying it down for a week or two (at least), oh, and if you can pace yourself, when you serve it, keep a little to try the next night…most likely it will taste better if it is good wine! Far too many times I have loved a wine then found out it was only going to get better…patience is a good thing, especially with wine.
There is a wine blog: thewinegourd
You should do yourself a favor and check it out. Pretty interesting and sensible: unless you KNOW what a wine critic looks for in a wine (i.e. Parker and high tannins), and that meshes with what you like, look for tasting ratings of groups. As Wine Gourd shows graphically, you want the one that more tasters like…if you want to please the most people at say a dinner you are hosting (also note: just because you bring a bottle of wine to a dinner, unless requested that is up to the host…in other words it is simply a gift), go for the broad ratings. Here is an excerpt of a letter to a local wine maker I wrote to today on the subject:
As a winemaker you want to appeal to the broadest base of buyers for two reasons: one you want the buyer to like it; secondly, when that person pours it you want the majority of those at the table to like it.
When I was a wine snob I bought Parker 90+ wines until I realized I didn’t like these high tannin monsters that you have to hold decades to enjoy, and noted guests reactions and wine left in glasses to learn the lesson. Also, the vast majority of wines, sadly, are drunk within a week of purchase which fails to allow the wines to develop or even recover from their journey.
I see Parker as a paradox: he improved the quality of wines globally; he has contributed to the homogenization of wines trying to weed out terroir which I firmly believe in…as does my friend, Randall Grahm and other Rhone Rangers.
I also subscribe to Mike Veseth’s Wine Economist blog. If not familiar, Mike saw Sideways and was shocked to see the effect on Pinot Noir and Merlot prices and placement on shelves. You might want to look at back issues of The Wine Gourd fro further study.
This winemaker, discussed in an earlier post, won two golds in their respective classes at the San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Tasting in January. No mean feat! As mentioned in the post (Vol. 3 No 9), there were 60 – count them sixty – judges, meaning these wines appealed to the broadest range of wine professionals.
By the way, both of those wines were in the $25 class…so you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for quality.
Twenty-eight years ago TB read a book that changed his outlook on wine, Kermit Lynch’s Adventures on the Wine Route…kind of a bible for Rhone Ranger, Burgundy, and Loire oenophiles. Couldn’t put my hands on it the other day and was angry with myself since it changed my view of wine and introduced me to so many wines I have come to enjoy over the years (decades?). So I went on Amazon and lo and behold there is a 25th Anniversary Edition, published in 2013, and I bought it in hardbound edition for less than the original list price too. Here are three things he did and didn’t do that make this edition the one to buy:
1. He added an epilogue rather than make changes to the original text…it is relatively short if you already read the first edition,
2. He tells what happened to some of the personalities in the first edition,
3. He lists the 25 favorite wines he has ever tasted, including the vintage (i.e a 1929 Chateau Y’Quem.
That’s all for today, folks…live, love, enjoy good wine…life is too short to drink plonk.
TB
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Trader Bill on Wine 