Raising the Bar
When I first told a wine-enthusiast friend that I was signing up for a wine appreciation class, he said something which proved to be prescient.
"You know what the problem with that is, don't you?"
"No, what?"
"You'll never be able to go back to bad wine."
It sounds pretentious, doesn't it? Something only a wine snob would say? But he's right. Perhaps that means Melissa and I are becoming snobs. Perhaps it means we already are.
As I've mentioned in my other blog, Melissa and I have been trying some wines from Trader Joe's. The chain, if you don't have one in your area, is known for cheap wine. It is so pervasive around here that when Melissa and I saw a play parodying middle-aged Berkeleyites (a notable percentage of the audience), the actors wore tie-dyed shawls and the dialogue described their wine as "Chilean, from Trader Joe's."
For the most part, the wines we've found have been drinkable, if not very interesting. Exactly how uninteresting was driven home to us Saturday night, as we uncorked a Ridge 2000 Geyserville Zinfandel. We were like thirsty kids at the school fountain, exuberant in our love of the wine (the 14.9% alcohol may have helped). Jam and leather on the bouquet, nice tannins, good acidity, the list went on and on. A really nice wine. Suddenly the wines from Trader Joe's didn't seem quite as drinkable.
It's not a matter of this being more expensive, though I think it's only in the mid-20 range. We tried a Pepperwood Grove Syrah ($6 or so) Sunday night and liked it quite a bit. It's about the care put into the wine. Ridge makes good wines, as does Pepperwood Grove (whose entire line got nods from Wine Spectator for their value).
And it's not like the other wines we drank were bad. But fresh in our minds as we drank the Ridge and Pepperwood Grove, they seemed like pale imitations of what wine should be. Simplistic and one-dimensional. They feel like insults from the wine makers to the consumers, a slight snickering as the producers figure there's no sense putting their best into a bottle, since the buyers can't appreciate the difference anyway.
So how do you tell the difference? My first wine teacher was able to illustrate it for us quite easily one night, as we tried a variety of wines. One wine produced a handful of descriptors from the class and the other produced a long list as people struggled to identify elusive smells. Regardless of whether or not you personally liked the first or second, he said, which made you think more? Which forced you to take more time to really try and appreciate it?
Interesting wine catches your attention. Makes you slow down so that you have more time to take it in. Forces you to linger, enjoying the company of your friends and family. You don't have to like it, you just have to notice it.
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