Thank you Eric for the words you have put behind the glass.
There are different answers to each question because we are alive, and wine is lively!
There are different answers to each question because we are alive, and wine is lively!
Years ago while working as the sales and marketing manager for a premium Napa winery, I decided to do a segmentation of the wine market as marketing was my primary forte. What I found amazed those in senior management who were virtually marketing people. The wine market both US and European was essentially 5% premium and 95% mass produced marketed wine.
Today I suspect this segmentation has changed significantly due to the advent of increased awareness of wine and vastly better production methods. In CA, virtually all winemakers in the 60-70's learned at Gallo simply because they had the most modern equipment and lots of stainless steel and controlled fermentation and they were very CLEAN. We did tests and visits of potential candidates large wineries to find someone to produce a quality central valley jug wine. We found someone we could work with and agreed to fund their winery improvement. Bronco Winery was selected in the person of Fred Franzia, who is a cousin of Ernest Gallo. For those who don't know, Fred is the father of Two Buck Chuck and now Bronco is the fourth largest wine producer in the US with over 50 labels. Yes Bronco buys lots of wine that is produced by some very premium wineries in CA.
A similar thing has happened of a huge scale in Australia. I can buy very inexpensive and good Australian wine for less than $10 a bottle.
To me the discovery of very good wine at reasonable prices is what it is all about - thank you NYT and Eric Asimov.
Today I suspect this segmentation has changed significantly due to the advent of increased awareness of wine and vastly better production methods. In CA, virtually all winemakers in the 60-70's learned at Gallo simply because they had the most modern equipment and lots of stainless steel and controlled fermentation and they were very CLEAN. We did tests and visits of potential candidates large wineries to find someone to produce a quality central valley jug wine. We found someone we could work with and agreed to fund their winery improvement. Bronco Winery was selected in the person of Fred Franzia, who is a cousin of Ernest Gallo. For those who don't know, Fred is the father of Two Buck Chuck and now Bronco is the fourth largest wine producer in the US with over 50 labels. Yes Bronco buys lots of wine that is produced by some very premium wineries in CA.
A similar thing has happened of a huge scale in Australia. I can buy very inexpensive and good Australian wine for less than $10 a bottle.
To me the discovery of very good wine at reasonable prices is what it is all about - thank you NYT and Eric Asimov.
1
My answer to question #3 about which wine to serve with spicy food: most California wines these days. I’m in the SF Bay Area two to three times a year, and I generally find the wines so high in alcohol, over 14 percent, and with so much oak, that it’s hard to pair food with them. I’ll take a good Loire Valley Cab Franc at 12.5 percent any day over a California Zin at 15.5 percent or a Napa Cab at 14.5 percent and heavily oaked. After all, isn’t the wine we drink also – and most importantly – about the food we eat with it?
10
I have a very strong affiliation with the enjoyment of wine. I enjoy it, and always interested in other people's reaction to a wine I am serving. When i serve wine to friends and family I try to match it to their tastes. As for when a wine is ready, there are so many variables it is impossible to "guestimate". A friend recently opened a Chateau Beaucastel from an excellent vintage, that was awful. It hadn't been properly cellared or something had happened to the wine somewhere along the way. I think wine is great and should match the food and personalities that are drinking it. I never let my guests know the price of a wine, until we have finished the evening, this takes out any preconceived judgments based on price.
And also everybody has different tastes. I tried a 2010 Barolo recently, the 2010 Vajra Bricco delle Viole that could easily be argued to be better in 10-15 years, but it was also showing quite a bit now, meaning nuance, structure, even a floral character. So even if you are resolved to cellar this one, letting it rest is going to be difficult. Another vintage and/or wine is likely to give different results.
"Why shouldn't we make a wine that people love rather than making a wine we love and trying to sell it?” My first boss taught me the opposite. You can't try to guess what will sell, he said. Find what you love--what you believe in--and sell that. He's a brilliant and successful book publisher, but I think the advice goes for wine as well as books. And that's romantic, too; isn't it, Eric?
5
The best book about the mysteries of wine, in my opinion, is, "Plain Talk About Fine Wine", by the wine maker, Justin Meyer. The foreward is by Robert Mondavi. He is now deceased, but was the famed wine maker and owner of Silver Oak Cellars, in Napa. He has been described, "As one of the legends of the Napa Valley". If you can find it, treat yourself to a no baloney take on how to deal with fine wines. I love his description of why, "smelling the cork", that the waiter leaves for you on the table, is nonsense. Plus much more.
2
Reading this article makes me wonder if the strong devotion to wine for some has to do with variable ratio, partial reinforcement - i.e., you never know when you're going to get a good payoff or how good the good payoff will be, but you get them often enough and big enough to keep you coming back again and again. It's just like the effect that gambling has on some people.
1
Wine and beer are everyday drinks for hoi-polloi that has somehow gotten escalated to the stratosphere. The marketing principles that supposedly apply to vintners and brewers also apply to the experts talking about wine and beer as well.
1
Before I read this column I read Vindu Goel's interesting article "In Vino Veritas. In Napa, Deceit". I hope others read it, too. Some people take wine too seriously.
4
Thank you for Hanna Barczyk's wine graphic; we should see this again for Valentine's Day! In all the wine nerdiness of the text, the graphic speaks days of wine and love to me.
1
Eric…what a wonderful article on wine as a living thing! Your writing reminded me of the dialogue in the film "Sideways" where Pinot Nior was described so beautifully that I wanted to bolt the theatre and open a bottle forthwith. For those of us who love the quest and never stop learning, thanks for inspiring us to never give up this amazing "force of nature"!
8
For spicy good one option is going for sweet light reds, however that's not the only option, spicy food goes really well with young and robust Riberas, such as Condado de Haza, or a more wood scented Pesquera. I do that with Mexican food, fat and spicy goes real well with such wines. Regarding decades long aging of wine for me that's like alchemy, just a dream, aging is good in the barrel, some few years on bottle, but that's it, there's no magic in just letting things stand a decade. Barollo waiting myth, is just that.
3
Unless you're entirely confident in your own judgment (and such confidence includes uncertainty and willingness to make mistakes), I'd suggest browsing amongst your local wine retailers (that even includes Costco) until you find a "fit" with someone you can share your own personal impressions with. Don't slavishly do what he/she says (most retailers are men), but feel free to be candid and self-expressive. Voice something unpopular like, "California chardonnay is too smoky/oaky for me unless the label says Unoaked" or "Zinfandel bites my mouth" or "Montrachet is too thick for my taste" or "I really like dry chenin blanc". Have a real conversation. Then you can relax and bask in the mystery, and build your own memories. As it happens, I drank Chateau Figeac 55 years ago, and I still remember it.
2
Any wine, whether "great" or not, consists of spoiled grapes, as beer is spoiled grain, as cheese is spoiled milk. Romantic? Really.
1
Do you eat eggs? Think about what they are.
Geez, I simply want wines that taste good with the foods I'm eating.
The mystery part eludes me completely.
The mystery part eludes me completely.
1
Wine is fine but overplayed. Cannabis is currently trending.
2
Wonderful article. In the spirit of experimenting, I'd suggest an alternative to waiting 10 more years for the 2010 Barolo. Open a bottle and pour a small taste; then decant the rest and taste it every now and then for three or four hours. My experience with this great vintage has been that it is surprising drinkable straight away--very energetic--but that after three or four hours of air it becomes pretty much everything one asks of an aged Barolo: layer after layer of complexity and deliciousness. I've been finding this fairly consistently with great nebbiolo-based wines (some folks suggest opening them a day in advance!) and cabernets from Bordeaux. It's worth a shot: you can always save the rest of the case.
6
Discussions about the mystery and romance of wines remind me of the discussions about Stradivarius violins. These violins have been analyzed and de-constructed, studies have been conducted on the psychological aspect of playing and listening to these instruments vs. newer instruments made by modern craftsmen. At the end, the quality and enjoyment of a wine or a violin lie all in the senses of the beholder, and the environment in which the wine or music is enjoyed. Probably 80% subjective, and 20% objective, in my opinion, with expectations playing a large role. There are mysteries, of course like the $8 bottle of Rosemont Shiraz on an ordinary hot summer afternoon (only bottle I had on hand) that tasted better than any Chateaunef du Pape or Rhone wines or other shiraz that I have ever tasted. Never re-produced. Made me wonder ever since if they have put the wrong wine in the bottle.
4
As someone who lives wines and schleps it from Italy to the States daily, I really enjoyed reading Eric's article and proclamation of 'Romance is the essence of wine.'
But, maybe I see 'romance' more as wine's context and pleasure its 'essence.'
Wine allows you to explore pleasure in so many different ways: inviting the quirky dinner guest (PatitaC, brava!), grabbing the old-reliable, following a wine as it (and you) age, finding that satisfying pairing, traveling somewhere through wine glass, and maybe even drinking through a glass darkly.
There are wines that speak to the belly and those that are all intellectual; those that fit both bills starting at say $15 and up.
Wine is one of the last hold outs for pleasure that you have to search for, not pleasure as some kind of dime novel comfort. Searching for wine's many pleasures may just give its romance authenticity.
But, maybe I see 'romance' more as wine's context and pleasure its 'essence.'
Wine allows you to explore pleasure in so many different ways: inviting the quirky dinner guest (PatitaC, brava!), grabbing the old-reliable, following a wine as it (and you) age, finding that satisfying pairing, traveling somewhere through wine glass, and maybe even drinking through a glass darkly.
There are wines that speak to the belly and those that are all intellectual; those that fit both bills starting at say $15 and up.
Wine is one of the last hold outs for pleasure that you have to search for, not pleasure as some kind of dime novel comfort. Searching for wine's many pleasures may just give its romance authenticity.
4
Yes, thank you. I'm not able to drink wine much anymore, and have puzzled with why it's something I refuse to declare as eliminate-able from my diet. This is why. No matter what charming tisanes I can concoct as reliable and pleasant meal accompaniments, sometimes the meal will not be a true meal without the quirky, unpredictable guest at the table. I can't brew anything yet that has the complexity and character of a well-made wine. Very grateful that you write here about the new uniformity of commercial wines. I will keep up my dialog with my local Gomer's Wines curator--quirky in his own way.
9
Wine is a widespread peasant drink throughout most of Europe and as such it is enjoyed without any pretense or debate of its 'complexities'. Just like beer and whiskey or brandy or vodka or anything else.
All the rest is either marketing bull or misunderstood snobbery.
All the rest is either marketing bull or misunderstood snobbery.
15
Evangeline, lots of folks in Europe have 'debate' and dialogue about the pleasures of wine without 'marketing bull or misunderstood snobbery.'
Although wine was once a main source of calories as a peasant drink, that's not the case at all anymore. Italy, as an example in Europe, has a naturalness at the table with wine, sometimes too much treating it as common salt, but there's also plenty of times that Italians treat the pleasure of wine as sacred and intricate to their daily chats, discourse, and, that Italian national pastime of debate.
Although wine was once a main source of calories as a peasant drink, that's not the case at all anymore. Italy, as an example in Europe, has a naturalness at the table with wine, sometimes too much treating it as common salt, but there's also plenty of times that Italians treat the pleasure of wine as sacred and intricate to their daily chats, discourse, and, that Italian national pastime of debate.
6
Wine is beverage, pure and simple. When I was a child I drank a glass of red wine every day because of my heart. I became a 'snob' later in life, I enjoyed it! But some years ago, in Sicily and Sardinia, being served the local white wine in pitchers cooled with ice cubes, reminded me that is a beverage to be drunk with meals. Nothing wrong with the snob part, but to 'whine' about commercial wine is all about the usual marketing, commercial, i'e' money thing. No problem with that either, it is what it is. If interested, I drink Rapsani Greek organic Red with meals and sometime a special blend of Petereson's Zinfandel if I just want a red wine by itself, that a restaurant acrossthe street has. I don't drink wine at home.
Well it sure isn't science! I visited the tasting room of one of the most vaunted local pinot noir makers here in Santa Barbara County today -- I have been a big fan of these folks in the past. But today, the flight I tasted somehow bored me, as well made as I could tell it was. So what happened? Off day for my palate? I had had no other wine, or anything. Barometric pressure? Wind direction? Moon in Saturn... (Nah.)
Not sure! I do think a couple of things: keep it simple, and don't make it overcomplicated or overpowering (it has to match food!) And next time you taste the same wine, you may have an entirely different experience -- So there's your 'mystery'...
Not sure! I do think a couple of things: keep it simple, and don't make it overcomplicated or overpowering (it has to match food!) And next time you taste the same wine, you may have an entirely different experience -- So there's your 'mystery'...
1
Thanks for the pleasant distraction, Mr. Asimov. As a person of somewhat limited means, I am forced always to think of wine in relation to price. I have never had an expensive bottle of wine that was not very good. So if price were not issue, I would simply always drink very expensive wines, for example the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti stolen from the French Laundry (and recently recovered).
Thus for me the best wine (other than a really expensive one that someone else is paying for) is the best wine for the price. I recently went wine tasting in the Paso Robles area and tasted a variety of wines at one vineyard, The best by far was a Rhone-style blend; the flavor touched every sensor on my tongue and seemed to go off like a bomb in my mouth. It was also the cheapest ($20), which made it all the more pleasurable.
Thus for me the best wine (other than a really expensive one that someone else is paying for) is the best wine for the price. I recently went wine tasting in the Paso Robles area and tasted a variety of wines at one vineyard, The best by far was a Rhone-style blend; the flavor touched every sensor on my tongue and seemed to go off like a bomb in my mouth. It was also the cheapest ($20), which made it all the more pleasurable.
6
Bill, reading your comment sure made me thirsty. I'm just guessing but maybe your $20 bottle was one of those superb Tobin James Syrahs?
1
Congratulations on drinking like a Californian. Paso has become the go-to appellation for those of us who won't (or can't) pay Napa prices. All hail the Rhones! Now if they would just ship some of those Finger Lakes wines we've been hearing about to our sunny state.
I've noticed a strong correlation between price and quality. Wines in the $20 to $30 price range usually taste better than wines in the $10 to $20 range. But to my taste wines costing $40 to $50 and above don't always taste better than cheaper bottles, and if they do, might not be worth the extra money.
The bulk wines are the commoditization and the big producers that buy grapes from multiple sources often create wines that are an average of all the grapes. The interesting wines are made from grapes from the same small vineyard year after year. I had the luxury of tasting three subsequent year vintages of champagne produced by three vineyards that are geographically adjacent to each other in France and the only apparent difference was the actual orientation of the vineyards to the sun and one could taste the differences. Vive la difference.
12
Never mentioned in these articles about wine is the dynamic of the economics between the grower and the winemaker. Most relationships are founded on price, how can the winery make a bottle he can sell for a profit? Conditions in the field reflect the grower's ability to fit his costs within that return per ton or acre offered by circumstances outside of his control.
One good example is the difference between machine harvest grapes and hand harvesting. The machines have revolutionized grape growing allowing greater efficiencies in the field, the wineries have a cheaper source but also a greater requirement to "industrialize" using chemistry, large scale fermentation tanks, filtration, etc. When that $9 bottle hits the shelves something gives along the way as it might leave the winery for less than $5. The biggest factor is the difference between $500 / ton grapes at ten tons to the acre and $4,000 / ton grapes at less than 3 tons to the acre. Some high end producers pay over $10,000 / ton for the best grapes, further restricting the crop to make the best flavors. Some varieties make great wines at higher tonnage, others (Pinot Noir) are best produced with low tonnage in cool climates. Lower tonnages guarantee ripeness, a fact hardly mentioned in the race to the bottom at the local wine store where the best wine under $10 is confused with quality. Quaffable wines are sold at every level in the market but the truly great ones are not made with shortcuts.
One good example is the difference between machine harvest grapes and hand harvesting. The machines have revolutionized grape growing allowing greater efficiencies in the field, the wineries have a cheaper source but also a greater requirement to "industrialize" using chemistry, large scale fermentation tanks, filtration, etc. When that $9 bottle hits the shelves something gives along the way as it might leave the winery for less than $5. The biggest factor is the difference between $500 / ton grapes at ten tons to the acre and $4,000 / ton grapes at less than 3 tons to the acre. Some high end producers pay over $10,000 / ton for the best grapes, further restricting the crop to make the best flavors. Some varieties make great wines at higher tonnage, others (Pinot Noir) are best produced with low tonnage in cool climates. Lower tonnages guarantee ripeness, a fact hardly mentioned in the race to the bottom at the local wine store where the best wine under $10 is confused with quality. Quaffable wines are sold at every level in the market but the truly great ones are not made with shortcuts.
9
Maybe I'm being too epistemological for an article on wine, but I don't think of wine as mysterious, I think of it as something too varied and complicated to completely understand. If you keep exploring you'll keep discovering new things and it never repeats itself. It's one of life's great pleasures.
12
Eric- I think that you could make many of the same arguments for good beer. It would be tough to find one that ages for 30 years, but many of your other arguments would hold.
5
How about some vintage Thomas Hardy's Strong Old Ale from England? This 11% gem ages well - and advertises that it will keep for 25 years. Ive tried one that was indeed 25 years old and it was fabulous! (tasted like a very nice tawny port - such as Graham's 20 yr) Eric has a blind spot and should realize that he is being a wine snob by this put-down of beer.
To me, a wine has to speak of the land, to taste like the sum of the dirt, the air, the lay of it's land. A California Robert Mondavi is as complex as a cup of grape soda, artificial flavor and coloring of course. And a Picpul de Pinet tells a tale of it's origins with every sip.
You're right when you mention marketing. The are some wines being sold in ready served sippy-cups, which are a hit with the hipsters, wine already poured in individual tiny cups, just peel the top and drink. But who wants a wine that was mass produced, and already oxidized by the time you get to drink it? hipsters do, because it's cool to play grown up I guess.
It's mass marketing or quality. Seldom both. Never go by price, some amazing quality can be had at $9 per bottle from Argentina and Spain. And some real garbage is sold at high end restaurants at $300+ a bottle. Experiment, try something new. And enjoy the story a wine can tell.
You're right when you mention marketing. The are some wines being sold in ready served sippy-cups, which are a hit with the hipsters, wine already poured in individual tiny cups, just peel the top and drink. But who wants a wine that was mass produced, and already oxidized by the time you get to drink it? hipsters do, because it's cool to play grown up I guess.
It's mass marketing or quality. Seldom both. Never go by price, some amazing quality can be had at $9 per bottle from Argentina and Spain. And some real garbage is sold at high end restaurants at $300+ a bottle. Experiment, try something new. And enjoy the story a wine can tell.
13
Grape soda! I might recommend a higher end Mondavi product.
Please try Portugal. There are spectacular red (and some white) from every appellation at affordable prices.
2
I was in Buenos Aires in Mid -October and we ate at a lovely restaurant which featured both seafood and meat, of course! I ordered a bottle of Pascual Toso Malbec, as I've drunk it many times here in the States and it's a nice wine, reasonably priced, generally about $15 a bottle. It wasn't the cheapest wine on the list, probably in the middle. We enjoyed it, and when the check came I was astounded to see that it cost me the equivalent of $9 US. Like most restaurants in Argentina, as in Italy, especially, wines are not triple the price in a wine shop, in the restaurants, but are a few dollars more. Argentinian wines are lovely, and a bargain! Perhaps our restaurants in the US might try that pricing...they might make up the $$$ in volume!
The only sure way to learn about and appreciate wine is to taste it! All the books by all the experts in the world won’t tell you what wines you like, with what foods, or even in which glasses unless you experience all that yourself. Many wine dealers (even chain liquor stores) have regular tastings, some of them free. Take advantage of inexpensive tasting events at restaurants and splurge on their winemaker dinners, where you can actually talk to the producers about how their passions for the wine influence how it’s made and how they like to drink it. Wines by the glass in restaurants may not be a bargain relative to bottles (by-the-glass is usually the highest markup) but--especially in flights or in dinner pairings--is the most economical way to experience what you like and what you like with it. You needn’t amass a collection of sets of specialty glassware, but one dedicated stem for each basic type will help you compare how a wine’s flavors and aromas are either enhanced or inhibited by the glass it’s in (hey, even some plastic!). You may find that certain shapes just don’t float your boat the way the critics say they should. The same bubbly may taste and behave differently in a crystal flute, tulip, regular wineglass, all-weather acrylic or even disposable/reusable stemless flute. (Safe bet, though, that a Solo cup, shallow sherbet-dish “coupe” or airline tumbler won’t work).
5
I lived in San Francisco over 40 YAG and a group of us got together and started the every other Tuesday night wine tasting group. It was held in my home simply because it was the largest place available. This tasting group is going to this day and some members you may have heard of are Kermit Lynch - an importer of very good wine and Arthur Damond, who writes a great wine newsletter. We limited thje number of people and wine to 8 and started having the tastings in east bay restaurants - what restaurant is busy on a Tuesday evening.
At one tasting we discovered Domain Dujac burgundies and literally scoured the country for all that was available. Also at that tasting was a 1971 Bonnes-Mares, Domaine Comte Georges-de Vigue burgundy and I bought 2 cases. I still have several bottles and there is a lot of bottle variation. Some very good and some are gone. I also bought a couple of cases of 1970 Cheatau Giscours Margaux and every bottle has been very good and none over the hill. These wines have been transported several thousand miles in trucks - some driven by me.
I asked Art what wine would he suggest for a dinner party and he suggested BV Georges De Latour Private Reserve and I found the 2011 at Costco. Unfortunately I could not attend that party. I also found out BV is now owned by Diageo who also owns Ridge and Sterling Vineyards.
The latter of which I was national sales and marketing manager and also attended several "free" tastings hosted by Paul Draper. ENJOY
At one tasting we discovered Domain Dujac burgundies and literally scoured the country for all that was available. Also at that tasting was a 1971 Bonnes-Mares, Domaine Comte Georges-de Vigue burgundy and I bought 2 cases. I still have several bottles and there is a lot of bottle variation. Some very good and some are gone. I also bought a couple of cases of 1970 Cheatau Giscours Margaux and every bottle has been very good and none over the hill. These wines have been transported several thousand miles in trucks - some driven by me.
I asked Art what wine would he suggest for a dinner party and he suggested BV Georges De Latour Private Reserve and I found the 2011 at Costco. Unfortunately I could not attend that party. I also found out BV is now owned by Diageo who also owns Ridge and Sterling Vineyards.
The latter of which I was national sales and marketing manager and also attended several "free" tastings hosted by Paul Draper. ENJOY
"It’s like a live musical performance: Do you want a note-for-note rendition of a recorded piece? Or do you want to see where a band’s unfettered inspiration takes it, for better or worse? I know what I prefer"-The reason I love wine, jazz and The Grateful Dead. Great read again Mr. Asimov.
14
I love you, Joseph.
Open one Barolo soon to get a baseline and do a check-in opening every 18 months going forward. Wine aging is highly inexact. I have seen top dollar older Bordeaux lose their fruit in half an hour. Others were delicious for their type and style. Major Bordeaux grapes have thick dark skins loaded with pigment and tannin. No guarantees. Discouraging to open a bottle past its peak especially with eleven others in the box just like it.
Nebbiolo varietal in Barolo has a pale thin skin so there is work to be done to produce dark colored wine. Lots of antioxidant tannin to sacrifice itself in the aging process meant to precipitate out leaving the wine in a sweet spot of balanced tannin/acid/fruit/sugar (3-5g per liter)/oak. The only way to know when it has arrived for you is to taste in context like a winemaker in the barrel room.
Along the way in the aging process secondary and tertiary aromas may develop. Nut-like aldehyde notes from oxidation are one example. Some people like them and some don't. Long term storage requires a steadily cool, dark, humid, and vibration free environment. Anything else and the variables become too numerous.
Nebbiolo varietal in Barolo has a pale thin skin so there is work to be done to produce dark colored wine. Lots of antioxidant tannin to sacrifice itself in the aging process meant to precipitate out leaving the wine in a sweet spot of balanced tannin/acid/fruit/sugar (3-5g per liter)/oak. The only way to know when it has arrived for you is to taste in context like a winemaker in the barrel room.
Along the way in the aging process secondary and tertiary aromas may develop. Nut-like aldehyde notes from oxidation are one example. Some people like them and some don't. Long term storage requires a steadily cool, dark, humid, and vibration free environment. Anything else and the variables become too numerous.
12
Thank you for your comments. One small point so collectors aren't discouraged: there is growing consensus that long term storage temperatures should be cool, but can vary (40ish to 70ish), provided the change is gradual. Think of all the great wines made and stored before air conditioning became universal.
I love the ideas in this column. Wine IS mysterious - it is alive and influenced by a thousand variables from vineyard to table. There are elements of the wine industry that thrive on keeping people in a state of fear of making a mistake, from the Grand Cru producers to the mass producers of $10 bottles that are a "can't miss."
I guess the personality of the wine consumer will find it's own way in the wilderness. I tend to like surprises. I try lots of wines at lots of price points from lots of places. Some amaze, others disappoint. Such is life.
Thanks for the great column and for the pointer to the article about Rombauer Chardonnay. I blogged recently about a big surprise with a Rombauer Zinfandel.
http://jimlockardonwine.com/?s=rombauer
I guess the personality of the wine consumer will find it's own way in the wilderness. I tend to like surprises. I try lots of wines at lots of price points from lots of places. Some amaze, others disappoint. Such is life.
Thanks for the great column and for the pointer to the article about Rombauer Chardonnay. I blogged recently about a big surprise with a Rombauer Zinfandel.
http://jimlockardonwine.com/?s=rombauer
5
You are a writer, and a good one. I offer this in the best supportive spirit and hope it will be taken as such: "it's" is a contraction for "it is", so doesn't fit in your piece--no snark intended. Wishing you happy drinking!
Thanks for the edit! I guess I tend to rely too much on spell-check when on the computer.
1
I would add history and culture to the mix. Producers who have been passed down through generations, surviving wars, diseases, good and bad weather to endure and refine their craft; climate and soil that fostered great traditions in various regions; the Roman Empire who brought wine to much of Europe, and the monasteries that kept the craft alive. The nature of a people, tending to produce wildly different styles. All these factors make wine endlessly fascinating- and delicious.
6
For the optimist and the young, yes. Temper that with a bit of the old saying "eat dessert first". Or buy with your heirs in mind.
When it comes to the '82 Figeac: drink up!