st.helier wrote:
Michael Scarpitti wrote .....

I feel, rather strongly, that there is a great deal of bovine excrement
to be found in the world of wine.

I think we are all aware of your thoughts and feeling in this matter
Michael, and to a certain extent, I have no quarrel with your opening
statement.

Where I take issue, is your ongoing crusade, expounding as follows.....


You find rank beginners coming here (and to wine shops) asking about
TASTING, when they should be asking about DRINKING and cooking.
To these brainwashed souls, the next 'step' from absolute beginner
requires 'tasting'. Hogwash. There is NOTHING beyond
drinking wine for the consumer. TASTING is for PROFESSIONAL wine
people, not connesseurs. Even the connesseur is incapable of tasting
anything in a wine that a beginner cannot also taste, in the context of
a meal. The connesseur simply can recognize certain traits that he
likes or dislikes.

If you truly believe that there is nothing beyond merely drinking wine; no
enjoyment; no curiosity as to the vineyard location; the challenges the
grower and winemaker faced; the philosophy of the grower and winemaker; the
challenges that each vintage offered - the subtle differences between the
top vineyard and the lower, then I pity you.

Where do I say or imply any of this? I am quite curious and read a lot
about wines and their makers. I have numerous wine books. I try lots of
wines, and notice how different makers approach a given grape
(Barnebera, for instance). My complaint is solely about TASTING, which
takes the wine out of its intended context, which is the accompaniment
to a meal. To me, this is the height of idiocy. It's like wanting to
remove all the other instruments playing Beethoven's 5th just listen to
a single violin. Maybe theconductor would need to do that, but not the
audience. That violin was intended to be heard in context with other
instruments.

To some of us, merely having a glass of wine or two with a meal is simply
not enough.

Why isn't it? It SHOULD be!


It is not a matter of right and wrong!

I am interested in knowing *everything* about what I am drinking.

I am curious too, but I don't let it get in the way. Do you know about
the problem of floral abortion in Grignolino? Have you ever drunk a
well-made Grignolino (Giacosa, for instance)? It's a marvelous wine,
easily among the best in the world, but the wine 'experts' ignore it or
call it trash. As a result, it's all but impossoble to get it in the
US, because snivelling wine-tasting experts like Parker look down their
noses at it.


I am lucky enough to live in a little piece of paradise here in the South
Pacific.

New Zealand now boasts 500 wineries - and I have personally visited over 400
and *tasted* their wines, enjoying the experience.

I have also been fortunate enough to have visited literally dozens of
wineries in such countries as Australia, France, the USA, in Germany and
Italy and South Africa.

It is my intention to visit, in the future Spain and Chile, and return to
France and Germany and Germany - and yes, even the US - again. And dammit,
I want to *taste* their art.

What you keep on expounding is like having an art print on your dining room
wall, but not being curious enough to want to visit the great galleries of
the world, to see the real thing.

Yes, you enjoy your drink with your meal in the moment, but you will never
experience the pride and the passion that the winemaker exudes when you are
standing in the vineyard, *tasting* this years pride and joy; or being in
the company of a winemaker in the cellar, *tasting* a barrel sample of some
exquisite, future release.

In my not so humble opinion, you are wrong when you say that a person, new
to the world of wine can gain nothing from *tasting*.

No. He gains nothing. He's fooling himself.


Standing in the company of others, with varying levels of experience,
sniffing and swilling and *tasting* two or three or ten small samples is an
excellent way of gaining experience, and forming opinions - upon which to
base a buying decision - get it - learning enough to make one's own
decision.

You, yourself, choose only to drink wine with meals - that is fine.

I drink many fine wines. Just had some Valtellina last month. Hard to
get here in Ohio, but it was magnificant!

But, suggesting that the drinking of wine without food, or tasting small
samples of wine is somehow wrong, or a waste of time is pure (now what were
the wrds you used?) - pure bovine excrement.

I can think of no greater waste of money, or time - and no greater insult to
the grower or winemaker than to limit the appreciation of their craft.

No: it is an insult to the winemaker to take his product and use it
outside of its intended context.


Each to their own, Michael; each to their own.

'His' own.

--

st.helier