Wine itself is not a mystery. What’s mysterious is the uniqueness of the individual’s palate. Why do some enjoy a wine so much and another can absolutely hate it? I’m not talking the beginning wine drinker’s palate vs. the experienced wine drinker. I’m talking experienced vs. experienced. Take for example the wine salesperson who comes by my department to taste wine. They extol the virtues of the wine they are about to pour for me, telling me how well it was received by many a buyer. I give it my best effort, trying to understand what it is that makes the wine so special. This red wine is highly acidic, in fact so much so I cannot extract anything else. I will confess that when I taste wine, I taste it for the masses. I have to sell this stuff and if it is out of balance, leaning towards the acidic side our the rustic side to the extreme, it will not be well received by the majority of my customers. I certainly can’t lie in my tasting notes and steer my customers in the wrong direction. The question is why? Why would any experienced wine drinker like this style over a balanced wine? I like acidity in my wine for sure, but it needs to be balanced with the fruit and tannins.
I believe part of it is an effort to be unique for the sake of being unique. It makes you look like a hip wine drinker if you like a rusty, highly acidic red wine, especially if you’re hanging with a bunch of wine drinkers who are of the same mind. It’s like the first time you took a shot of bourbon with a bunch of friends. The stuff burned like hell going down and every fiber of your being wanted to spit it out of your mouth. But, because you were surrounded by a bunch of experienced bourbon drinkers, you kept a brave face, drank it down and acted like you really enjoyed it. You may have even declared that it is your favorite, just to fit into this group. Now you are one of the hip bourbon drinkers and thus gained new friends.
As you may have noticed, I am talking red wine here. High acid whites are a different story all together. Many whites benefit from higher acidity. Sauvignon Blanc without a good dose of acidity is flabby and quite boring. Sancerre out of the Loire Valley in France, is a SB that is famous for its minerality and higher acidity. This is just one example of whites that show better with a solid spine of acidity. However, there are very few reds that fall into the “wow” category if they are over-the-top with acid. Even in Burgundy where Pinot Noir rules, too much acid is not necessarily considered advantageous. Yes, they are higher in acid, mainly because of the cooler conditions in that area of the world. The hipster wine drinker I have referred to earlier gets giddy when drinking a red Burgundy with high acidity. When they do this in front of me, I am astounded at their insistence that if a red Burgundy shows any fruit, it is flawed. Screw those warmer vintages where you get a little plush fruit with loads of Asian spices and of course, balanced acidity. They will actually tell me they don’t like those wines. Huh? One of the best Pinot Noir from Burgundy I have ever put my lips to was an older vintage of La Tache from Romanee Conti. Silky and delicious with notes of strawberries, cherries, black tea and Asian spices. There was acidity of course, but it was so well-integrated, you hardly noticed it. Even the hipster acid freak wine drinker might be lured into changing their ways if they tasted this baby (very expensive and hard to get). The point is…It was well-made, delicious and memorable. Yes, the individual palate is quite mysterious, but be careful not to get lured into thinking you are hip if you like wines that are out of balance. No one will think lesser of you except of course those acid freaks out there who are convinced that they might lose their hipster status if they ever admit they actually like a “delicious” fruit-forward style wine. Heaven forbid!
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
