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Wine notes and more from Robert Harlee, proprietor and
wine expert.
Click here to read Robert's Chile/Argentina travelogue>
2003:
EUREKA! Thoughts on the 35 Wines I Tasted -- read>
2003:
On Choosing Wine -- read>
2003:
The Value of Wine -- read>
2003:
The Test of a Good Wine -- read>
2003:
EUREKA! Thoughts on the 35 Wines I Tasted
I sit here reflecting on the thirty-five wines
I tried today. They were all good wines, adequately
made and varietally correct. My complaint?
None of them stood out, none piqued my palate.
Perhaps I'm jaded by the thousands of wines
I taste each year. Of the tens of thousands
of wines on the market today, thankfully most
of them are of adequate to good quality. The
wine industry, led by researchers at California's
UC Davis, has learned the science and made
the investment in equipment necessary to produce
good, non-flawed wine. As a result, it's now
rare to find a badly made wine. This increase
in the average quality of wine is the great
success story of the last decade.
Unless it is also dirt cheap, however, average
quality is not good enough for me. What I
live for is the moment when a wine awakens
my palate and grabs my attention. That instant,
that moment of discovery when a wine jumps
up, electrifies the system and says wow, is
what I call the eureka moment. That one instant
makes all the tasting, all the searching worthwhile.
For
that moment my wine search persona is happy.
Then reality intrudes and I must check if
the price is affordable. If it's too high,
I won't stock it. For me, finding exciting
wines that are good values is the key to enjoying
wine. Of course, the joy of discovery isn't
complete until one of you enjoys the wine
too and returns to tell us.
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2003:
On
Choosing Wine
Several years ago, seventy-four-year-old John
Parducci, owner and winemaker of the Parducci
Winery in Sonoma, CA, visited Charlottesville
and lunched with local members of the wine
trade. Fifty years of making and selling wine
had made him impatient with the hype and hoopla
wine writers employ today. "Look here,"
he imparted, "I've been selling wine
since I was sixteen and this is all pretty
silly. How do I tell a good wine? One, do
I like it. And two, can I afford it?"
We all laughed, but on reflection his sage
advice is a good guide to choosing wine.
How should you choose wine? You can choose
by the label graphics - a tactic you can get
away with here at Market St. because we don't
stock bad wine with great labels - or you
can taste, read and listen. There is no substitute
for tasting because taste is subjective. We
cannot quantify taste.
We
offer many chances for you to taste: our
free event tastings at both stores, the
Third Wednesday at
Escafé and wine dinners at local
restaurants. Read wine reviews in the Washington
Post's Wednesday Food Section, in a magazine
or on the web, and of course, our
newsletter. Talk to friends and a retailer
you trust.
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2003:
The
Value of Wine
Choosing wines, and even eureka wines, is
based on a perception of value. The old adage
that something that seems too cheap usually
is, certainly holds true for wine. Each type
of wine occupies a price niche. The French
"appellation controllée"
system, literally "controlled name,"
sets distinct levels of quality based on place;
the more specific the place, the more distinct
and, they hope, the better the wine. French
wine prices reflect this hierarchy of quality.
Consider the Chardonnays of Burgundy. Starting
with the least expensive, the major appellations
are Bourgogne Blanc (anywhere in Burgundy),
Macon (ma-cone), St.-Veran, Pouilly-Fuissé
(pooh-yee foo-say), Meursault (mare-sow),
Chassagne-Montrachet (shass-anya) and Puligny-
Montrachet (pull-leanyee). Within these appellations
are more distinctions: in Puligny-Montrachet
there are "village" wines, "vineyard"
Premier Cru such as "Les Folatières"
and "vineyard" Grand Cru such as
"Chevalier-Montrachet". In short,
the more names on the label, the more expensive
the wine.
Vaucher makes a Pouilly-Fuissé that
would retail for $11.99 here and has retailed
for $12.99 elsewhere in town. We don't stock
it because it doesn't taste like a Pouilly-Fuissé,
but like a simpler, and less expensive, Bourgogne
Blanc. Pouilly Fuissés sell for $16-22,
Bourgogne Blancs for $9-14. We did, however,
purchase it on a closeout and sold it for
$7.99.
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2003:
The
Test of a Good Wine
Do you agonize over choosing the “correct”
wine or just avoid wine entirely because you
are afraid of embarrassment? If so, RELAX,
TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND READ THIS. Several
years ago, seventy-four year old John Parducci,
owner and winemaker of the Parducci Winery
in Sonoma, Calif.) visited Charlottesville
and lunched with local members of the wine
trade. Fifty years of making and selling wine
had made him impatient with the hype and hoopla
wine writers employ today. “Look here,”
he imparted, “I’ve been selling
wine since I was sixteen and this is all pretty
silly. How do I tell a good wine? One, do
I like it. And two, can I afford it?”
We all laughed, but on reflection his sage
advice is a good guide to choosing wine.
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