I do agree with Showbizguru to some extent. Once you get past a certain point, it is mostly just marketing hype and hoopla.

reminded me of a Wall St Journal article from last year:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...282653628.html


Just drink what you enjoy and let the wine snobs enjoy their games. and remember that price does not equal quality in wine or in many other areas.

The 1% of wine drinkers that care are just like the 1% of the flying public that cares.

d

Just like enjoying food - everything in moderation (okay, not always!) and learn why you like what you like, by trying other things and appreciating the good stuff.

I agree it's all about enjoying yourself, spending time with friends and relaxing.

If you find that you like a particular style of wine, try to taste it from a few sources.
When you find something you like at a great price, snap it up and enjoy it by the case.

Well, winery tours and "usual wine tastings" aren't usually where you drink very good wine. And those manning the bar (at the bigger places) are often corporate employees working for Diageo or similar, and have nothing in the game but a paycheck and a desire for the shift to end.

Sometimes I taste things from the tasting notes, sometimes I taste things on my own, sometimes I think the person(s) making the tasting notes was high.

Cork is an entirely different story. FT has some extensive discussions on same.

Pretentiousness and winesnobbery - make it your amusement and entertainment. One of my friends was a tasting room manager for some time (at a few places) and she would toy with the faux-snobs and they didn't even realize how rude she was being at times. However, if I ever end up on a wine tour again, especially one where the owner's ego is massaged at every stop, someone put me out of my misery, immediately.

I drink a lot of $10 and under imports, and most of it is pretty good. Once in awhile there's a "I gotta go back and buy a case of it." Rarely do I taste anything special other than something apply, berry-ish, mineral-y, and some other more common profiles.

Now, back to the cat pee.
(If you don't get it, leave and go read another thread.)

Glass houses .... I saw where you store the stuff, and it is going to take more than a few bottles (that don't have your additives) to keep me hushed!

True. However even the keenest of FF'ers is unlikely to notice the scent of the bog-roll in the first class toilet, but many wine buffs attempt to do the equivalent.

It might be gimmicky but I enjoy tasting different wines. There are definitely different wines for different occasions.

I enjoy the wine tastings at the vineyard but many are starting to charge for them.

MisterNice

I try to patronise cellar doors without tasting fees - IMHO it's a crude attempt to guilt customers to buy wine before they've really tried it.

If I like a place and the wine I'll buy, but don't like the mind games involved in hidden fees. Most places are upfront but some try to hide their fees.

As most visitors to Australia cellar doors are aware, tasting fees here are as rare as tipping outside a restaurant. ^

(Name names if you've been unhappy with a particular cellar door's tasting charges. Most I've seen are tiny cellar doors or restaurants with a cellar door attached. I've only seen one with fees in NZ, too.)

This thread is an excellent example of why the wine industry is at fault for many folks not 'getting' the issue of what a wine tasting is.... or perhaps a better way to say this is that many folks out there just feel alienated & intimidated with the concept of a wine tasting and all it entails.

The industry is to blame because the past few years have found the entire issue of wine getting overly complicated, presumptuous… and just overall more difficult than is necessary. Too many folks in the industry are trying to sell wine education, wine books… and IMO the entire industry is forgetting the most important aspect of wine, the most appealing and welcoming angle.

Wine is something that needs to be related to the Good Life, to the happy & important moments of our lives… to sharing a nice moment with our significant other, with our friends, with our family…. with colleagues to celebrate a great deal we just closed, or to toast to a great business year.

The last thing that wine needs is for lead tasters at these wine events to walk up and Preach from the Pulpit. Folks don’t want to hear about graphite, wet saddles, freshly cut grass, flesh, and those darned vanilla, chocolate and leather notes…. Enough of these darned descriptors and please let’s have people speak their mind when they stick their nose into a glass of wine.

Exactly. Wine tasting should be about just that; tasting wine. If I like a wine and think it's good value then I'll buy it. There's two tasting notes in my vocab; good and bad.

What I don't need is some salesperson pointing out what I should be tasting.

I'll pay a nominal fee, and likewise won't be guilted or shamed into buying, if I like it I'll buy it, if not, then...not. But in Italy I do very much appreciate being able to walk into a tasting/sales room, cantina or enoteca and pick up an excellent Brunello or Vino Nobile, that perhaps can't be even be found in the US at all, and for a good price. It's easy to get spoiled.

But no matter how flowery or pretentious the description, it all boils down to just three things and their balance - fruit, acidity and alcohol.

But do you not think there is value to developing one's palette to be able to discern multiple flavors and get beyond a simply good/bad binary?

Have to think that several of the opinions about there not being multi-layered flavor and aroma nuances are by people best advised to "not open their mouths and remove all doubt". Oh and the rest of that saying as well.

All grapes, terroirs, climates, and production methods all produce only good or bad and not an extraordinary number of identifiable characteristics?

Well as I said above, it is you who removed all doubt.

Care for a glass of Gallo to go with your individually wrapped slice of processed cheese?

I'm one of the "like wine, but can't fully understand it".

The extent of my wine classing goes to a level where I have stereotyped different blends, perhaps inaccurately at times. For example, Sauv Blancs tend to be light and fruity (and usually my favourite choice), Chardonnays tend to be dry and a less sweet flavour, Merlot and Shiraz are heavy reds and Pinot Noir tend to yield light reds. Apart from that, I guess the only words I use are "light" and "heavy" (which do vary from tongue to tongue, palate to palate). There are many of you reading this that will almost immediately dismiss my stereotyping - fair enough, but I am showing my ignorance publicly.

I can never find the flavours that the winemakers/wine writers extol at tremendous length to explain (e.g. peach, chocolate, blackberry etc.).

In most cases, however, I'll give anything a go once to see how I like it.

Perhaps. But that would involve a significant effort of development that most people are not prepared to invest. They would rather taste/drink/quaff the wine and be done with. If it tastes good to them, that may be all that matters (especially if the price tag justifies it, too).

The same thing goes for the different people who look at art, go fishing and drive cars.

In saying all this, a little communication and understanding helps both sides. If someone obviously displays themselves as not knowing much about wine, don't bombard them with detail and what not that they will not appreciate, and may just confuse and frustrate. I've got no love for those vain enough to believe they are faux experts in wine, so let their heads be off at a conveniently embarrassing time.

I do love it how you can pick up a cheap wine from a store in Europe and most of the time it will taste excellent. Wine in Australia is good but it is getting much harder to locate winners amongst otherwise "just quaff it" material; in my experience, however, generally the more expensive wines do pay off their cost very well.