How Rick Picks

Sometimes I think of myself as nothing more than big wine filter - I can only guess at the number of wines I taste in a year - somewhere between 3000 and 5000. About 95% of them are un-memorable - forgotten, pardon the expression, before the expectorate hits the bucket. Those that strike a chord, rather than the bucket, usually do so because of style and/or varietal, with region and wine-maker frequently the common thread connecting them.

We drink wine for pleasure - pleasure perceived through the senses of smell and taste. Pleasure derived directly from the sense of smell is very obvious, but in the context of wine it cannot stand alone. On the other hand a wine that pleases the palate will pass muster even if it has no bouquet or at least no unpleasant bouquet.

On the palate, I find pleasure in balance - balance between fruit (flavor, if you wish) and acid. Stylistically, that translates into wines that have a backbone, which in white wine is acid, and in red wines, acid and tannin. The backbone should run more or less from the tip of the tongue to the very back of the mouth. It is the skeleton on which the "meat" of the wine - it's fruit - hangs. The interplay of fruit and acid, from the front to the back of my palate, is what provides the pleasure, and is what gives each wines a unique signature.

Using the "A" Word . . .

People in the wine trade cringe when I freely use the "A" word - "acid". They feel that it has a negative connotation to most people. That is possibly true, but I have not found a better word or description - citrusy or appley, don't do it. What I have found is that if you can illustrate your description by having someone taste the wine and then tell them that is what I call "acidic", the response is invariably. "Oh, I like that." The old problem is that we really lack a common vocabulary when it comes to describing subjective wine experiences.