"Bill Spohn" > wrote in message
...
> >One comment on vertical (and horizontal) tastings:
> >Although I appreciate the educational value of them, I don't conduct them
> on>my own anymore. There are always wines that get blown away by a few
> of>their more stellar peers which would be perfectly lovely if served on
> their>own. That strikes me as wasteful of merit.
> >
>
> I agree, but find that you can taste together and then go back and drink
them
> seriatim, savouring one at a time.
> That sort of tasting is the only way to know a wine or a vintage!

Oh, I agree completely on that last, but I'd want to do the vertical at a
""pay for event" tasting - never from my personal collection. One needs
both a lot of depth and breadth in one's cellar to host such extravaganzas.
I have neither.

I _could_ kick in a bottle for a Richie Creek tasting though...

> >On tannin/fruit balance:
> >In my experience, wines that go into the bottle out of balance never
> achieve>balance with aging. They may _improve_, but it's always better if
the
> wine>is balanced to begin with.
>
> Depends on what you mean by balance. Excessive tannin can conceal exactly
how
> much fruit is there - examples would be the 1975 Bordeaux when young, and
just
> about any Dunn.

Funny you should mention 1975 Bordeaux. The Mouton I bought proves my
point. It was a tannic monster when released. I _thought_ there was fruit
behind the tannin. When I tasted it a couple of years ago the tannin had
resolved, to reveal...

....not much to speak of.

Don't get me wrong. I've tasted a number of tannic monsters that developed
into extraordinary wines at maturity. The fruit behind the tannin was
always _there_, and was evident in the wines' youth after a good deal of
breathing - sometimes for more than a day.

> Past a certain point, there is so much puckery tannin that you have a real
hard
> time detecting just how much fruit is there. Wait 15 or 20 years and
things can
> sort out. I'd agree though that if the fruit isn't there to start with
(even if
> it is 'hiding') ithe wine isn't going anywhere.

OK, we agree on that last, but I believe that it's possible to sort that all
out in _young_ wines too. IOW, it doesn't really take 20 years to decide
whether a wine has any future to speak of. It just takes patience,
attention (over the course of an evening), aeration and perhaps a bit of
imagination.

Tom S