What makes a wine special?
It should be a simple question and a straightforward answer, but it always comes down to a few key variables. I’ve been learning about and growing with wine for the past 10 years or so, and as my tastes and experience have changed, so to, have the elements that make a wine special.
One thing that always helps that case however is place. Where you have that glass of champagne or the big Napa red can really set that wine apart from just another drink. I know some of the best glasses of wine were had sitting at the winery, soaking in the atmosphere. I also know that all those special occasions, when a good wine was called for, that wine just tasted and meant a little bit more.
How about cost? I remember just getting into wine in my early 20s and at that point a bottle of wine over $20 was a extreme buy. So maybe at that stage a wine could “wow” me just because it was more expensive. I remember my first big bordeaux, a 1999 Chateau Cantermerle, for which at the time I paid a whopping $35. It was bigger and bolder than anything I’d tasted to that point and I can remember really falling in love with wine. Did cost have a factor there? Probably somewhat, but so did that quality factor.
Are we going to be more excited by the $15 wine that tastes like the $40 or the $75 wine that tastes like a $75 wine. Sometimes is the bargain that makes it special. No probably more than anything, its the company that makes it special. You want to drink a good wine with someone special. You want to be able to enjoy the company, maybe a good meal, to talk about probably less the wine, and rather enjoy the moment.
I’d say that all of these answers good be right, just depends on the mood. Just as much as the wine has to be good, and the company has to be special, the wine itself, just has to fit. I’m a strong believer that a wine is particular to a mood. Lazy sunday afternoons are good for a riesling or shiraz. Fall and Winter nights just call for a good rhone or earthy Italian. I think you get the idea.
Anyway, what does make a wine special – let me hear from you.
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