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+--- Thread: Developing a taste pallette (/thread-17854.html)
- Elephant Glue - 04-23-2005
As someone with limited experience with wines, I recently tried to broaden my horizons. I usually drink Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel wines from Ravenswood or Blackstone wineries. I bought a Cabernet Franc 2002 from Stepping Stone winery for about three times as much as I usually pay, on the recomendation of a wine-store owner. While I agree with him, that it is a very nice wine, I fail to see why it would be concidered better than the wines I usually drink. Is it just that I haven't developed a sophisticated enough taste pallette to distiguish the difference?
- Zinner - 04-24-2005
It may not have anything to do with the sophistication of your palate. Perhaps it's just that the wine store owner and you have different tastes in wine. Perhaps Cabernet Franc is not the varietal that rocks your boat. Or perhaps you'd really like a Cab Franc from another producer.
If the store owner loved brussel sprouts and you didn't, you wouldn't think you were too unsophisticated to appreciate them. Different people have varying preferences in wine as well as food.
Does the store have tastings where you could try several wines and then decide which you wanted to buy? These are usually low cost or even free, because they hope you'll buy.
That said, I often find the folks who tell me that they can never tell an expensive wine from a cheap one are often the folks who are gulping their wine. When people sort of toss the wine at their throat and swallow fast, it's no wonder that one wine is pretty much like another.
To get the full experience, you'll want to give it a little swirl in the glass, inhale the aroma and sip, allowing the wine to move around your mouth. After tasting it alone, try some food with it and see how your experience of the wine changes with the addition of the food.
Good luck with your exploring.
- Drew - 04-24-2005
Simple version is that there is a LOT of expensive, as well as not so expensive, wines that don't satisfy. You are the only one that assigns the appropriate value as a consumer.
Drew
- wondersofwine - 04-25-2005
If I could make a suggestion, look for some zinfandels other than Ravenswood to try and see if you like them the same, less, or more than the Ravenswood. Rosenblum makes a number of different zinfandels. You might try Renwood zins. One of the standards for a long time has been Ridge Lytton Springs although they now don't label the Lytton Springs as a zinfandel because it blends several grapes and may not have 75% zinfandel in its composition. Seghesio is another good zin producer (mostly reasonably priced) although 2003 was perhaps not as good as the 2002 which is now difficult to find in stores. I think if you try some other producers, you may come to your own conclusion that there are better wines out there than what you are presently drinking. Maybe not. As others have expressed, it comes down to what you enjoy drinking and you have to be the final judge of that.