Problem: I buy wine pretty much on a whim, choosing from whatever there is on a wine store shelf based upon vital oenological concepts like “Nice label design” and “St. Emilion sounds familiar”. As a result, my experiences with wine drinking are, as we say in viticulture, spotty.
Solution: Science! And Sports! Or to be more precise, a double-blind NCAA-tournament style bracketed taste test.
Tools:
A list of 65 wines from the Bordeaux 2010 vintage in a range of prices. Since I am starting from scratch here most will be in the $10 to $20 price range. If you are more of a connoisseur, adjust accordingly.
2 bottles of actual wine.
4 people.
8 wineglasses.
Set up:
Open the wine according to whatever solemn ritual (letting it breathe, etc.) you deem necessary and pour it into the (identified by number or
colored rubber bands) wine glasses. Set two in front of each person (add dinner or other food to taste). The people should not know which wine is in each glass or even which two wines are being compared. You can figure out the mechanics of this yourself (perhaps by roping in a trusted cohort).
Experiment:
Enjoy dinner. Drink wine. Have each person write down their preference between A and B. Bring the covered bottles to the table and unveil the labels. Each person now fills in the first game on their Bordeaux 2010 Tournament Bracket. In this case it’s the play-in game, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 61 - Winthrop 44. Note that there is no tallying of votes. Every person winds up with their own, different bracket according to their personal taste.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Chacun a son Goût.
