This last week I read a tongue-in-cheek article by syndicated columnist, Dave Barry, that lampooned the California "Wine Country" scene and simultaneously made fun of some of the affectation that unfortunately goes with wine. It gave me cause to reflect.
I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm with anyone who will listen - if I have bored
you - I apologize.
I try to focus on the enjoyment of wine, rather than the rituals of wine -
if I have failed - I apologize.
Music is an important part of my life. Over the years I have learned to appreciate an ever-widening range of music - jazz, classic, opera, even minimalist music. I can sometimes recognize pieces. I can sometimes recognize an instrument. I can hum a tune.
But; I am tone deaf; I cannot read a single note of music; I know nothing about the structure of a symphony or a sonata.
Yet, I enjoy music.
My appreciation of wine is somewhat like my appreciation of music. It is sensual and emotional rather than analytical. Of course, I have learned more about wine than I have about music, because I try to make a living selling it.
By simply learning to listen, you can learn to appreciate music. Similarly, by simply learning to taste you can learn to appreciate wine. In neither case is it necessary to know any of the technical or anecdotal details.
I have a very good friend who is a musician and I do not feel inadequate when I discuss music with him. Our discussion is on a level that I can comprehend, just as our discussion of wine is at a level of his interest and comprehension.
I do not ever expect to grow grapes or make wine and so I have no need to know anything about those subjects, but I am interested to the extent that it helps me appreciate, enjoy and buy wine.
I am, at heart, a non-conformist. I was born a subject of the British Crown, but even as a child I had no time for the pomp and pageantry that goes with royalty. Similarly, I have no patience with the pomp, pretension and ritual that sometimes seems more important than the enjoyment of wine. REBEL!
Often-times the things that I read and experience relative to wine remind me that the Emperor has no Clothes.
I must confess that I frequently do not find any of the wonderful attributes, flavors and bouquets described in so many reviews. Many reviews find virtue where I find none.
I have tried to rate wine using the standard 20 point system or the Parker 100 point system. I have failed.
Some days I tasted better, or differently, than on other days.
I must confess that I cannot identify appellations in a blind line-up of Bordeaux - the same with Bugundy. I can sometimes make an educated guess as to the grapes that a wine is made of or where it came from - but I am often wrong.
I must confess that I often find it difficult, if not impossible, to express in words, my reaction to a wine, particularly if it is complex. I can remember a wine by its "shape" and "texture" in my mouth and by the pattern of flavors I experience - but these are images that cannot easily be put into words - there is an emotional factor involved, just as there is in music.
A final confession - upon tasting a wine, within seconds I have a gut reaction that is either positive, negative or neutral. Further analysis of what I am experiencing may refine that initial reaction and I may reverse it - but not often. I feel inadequate at wine tastings when my colleagues (and competitors) write reams of notes about a wine and the best I can do is a bunch of x's and one or two words - but, I take solace in the fact that that same bottle of wine may very well taste quite different an hour later - or a day later!
My message - be not intimidated by wine rituals, by wine tech-speak, by friends, by dinner companions, or by "Connoisseurs" - there are none. Learn to "taste" and never pass up and opportunity to taste - your taste will change. Whatever it is - it is valid!