To be a true lover of wine you need to be able to appreciate the full opportunity of flavors that ALL grapes and wines have to offer. All too often I meet people that have a taste for only one grape varietal or style of wine. This limits the range and is like saying you are a food lover, but only eat chicken. To truly appreciate wine it is important to try every grape varietal you can, every region and every vintage (a most pleasurable but impossible task!). As time goes on you develop a repertoire of tasting experiences on which you can draw and use to pair the right wine, the right flavor, to specific occasions in life.
I am frequently asked what my favorite wine is and I honestly do not have one. I select wines to partner with the things going on around me. In daily life the food, time of day, season, company and level of formality all play into what wine I select. Drink Chateau Lafite Rothschild with lemon sorbet, you will be disappointed. Drink Moscato at a formal dinner with Chateaubriand you’re a fool but drink it at a Drake concert and you are Def or Phat or something like that (Moscato is a Rapper thing!) Set your wines up for success. Dig into the range of flavors and find combinations in life that enhance them. Sunny days are for Vinho Verde, Celebrations Champagne, and Late Night is for Port.
Wine is a living and breathing thing that changes each day. Also the environment, mood and all other things that surround it have an effect on how you will perceive it. I have been chasing all these flavors that wine has to offer, with effort, for the past 35 years and am still finding new tastes every day. It is folly to think one could ever reach then end of the wine rainbow, the fun is in the journey, there is no end, only great memories of the times shared over a glass, a bottle, a lifetime. Experiment, taste all there is to taste and savor every moment. Cheers.
