While I am by no means a recognized wine expert, in the ranks of Robert Parker, Alan Meadows, etc. I have always considered myself more of an authority than most, in discerning good wines from mediocre ones.
Now while there are a few who may disagree with that characterization, and even I will admit there is a lot of subjectiveness in wine tasting, and not everyone has the same palate, or likes and dislikes, distinguishing the difference between good wines and just down right nasty wines i.e. vinegary, sour, devoid of fruit etc. should be a simple task for anyone.
But it still amazes me, just how some people can drink a glass of wine, that has left such a foul taste in my mouth, I have to spit it out, and actually rave about how much they liked it. And yesterday was a perfect example.
At least once a year, one of our wine drinking friends in Santa Monica, who has more money than he knows what to do with, and obviously more wine than any one person [or even two] could drink in several lifetimes, has a party to clear out some of his older wines.
It is extremely generous of him and his wife, as they supply all the wine, and a main course to eat while we’re tasting. All we have to do is get to their house, which from Long Beach isn’t always as easy as it sounds, and bring a side dish to serve along with the rest of the food.
For me, these events are more about the party and the socializing than the wines, as the wines are usually not that good, but it is still interesting to see how different wines from different producers hold up over the years. And with those expectations in mind it was a great event.
For the day, our friend opened 43 bottles of wine, ranging in age from 8 to 25 years old. Don’t fret though, by no means did we finish them all. The vast majority were undrinkable. Overall, I would say 30 to 35 were undrinkable, and 6 to 8 (mostly rhone style wines from France) were decent, and drinkable along with some food.
But not everyone agreed with my assessment, raving about a few I couldn’t spit out fast enough. I even went back to try one or two again, just to be sure I wasn’t wrong in my original assessment, which I wasn’t.
I’m convinced people say they like some wines, because someone else they like claims it is good, or they are just enamored with old wines thinking they are supposed to like them. I’m not sure why, but……
Regardless, and remembering what I said earlier, wine tasting is very subjective, and we don’t all have the same palates or likes and dislikes, the party exceeded my expectations, and I enjoyed myself.
And at the end, our gracious hosts brought out a 1994 and a 1999 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages, which everyone agreed were both very good, and couple that with Tiger’s pressure putt on the 18th hole, at Torrey Pines, to send the US Open into a final round play off this morning, topped off a perfect day.
