Out to dinner with some friends, I was paid a high compliment. They allowed me to choose the wine, well aware of the fledgling wine blogger in their midst.
I, too, was well aware—well aware that this was a tough crowd.
But I confidentially picked up the wine list, fairly certain that I could find something decent at this upscale seafood restaurant to accompany our selections of soft-shell crab, salmon and halibut.
My confidence was rewarded when my eyes alighted on none other than an ’06 Loimer “Lois” Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal.
Alert readers will recall that I wrote about Gruner Veltliners in a previous post—about how the Austrian whites have become the “darlings” of Manhattan’s best restaurants lately, about how they’re like drinking “liquid crystal.”
So I ordered it, preening, content that my research for this blog was proving useful not just in cyberspace but in a high-stakes real-world setting, too.
When the chilled bottle arrived, I tasted. Slam dunk! Zesty and incredibly dry, with an earthy mineral touch.
I turned to the companion on my left and was greeted with a broad smile, as he put down the glass to take out a pen and jot down the name for a future purchase.
Serenely, I turned to the right.
“Tinny,” this one said.
Huh?
“Tinny,” he repeated.
This particular friend and I will argue about almost anything, at any time, at the drop of a hat. We sort of enjoy it. But I knew there was no use in trying to convince him otherwise about the wine. What for me was a touch of mineral, for him was tin.
(Frankly, there was little strategic value in arguing because the friend across from me agreed with him.)
Duke Ellington once famously said about music: “If it sounds good, it is good.”
The same could be said about wine—if it tastes good, it is good. And the converse is equally true.
Or as Jancis Robinson says in her book How to Taste:
“Despite what some self-styled ‘connoisseurs’ may suggest, there are no rights or wrongs in wine appreciation. Tasting is in its essence a subjective business. There are some bottles which may, on an objective basis, be technically faulty, but which some tasters may find perfectly enjoyable. There are other famous wines that can count on enough admirers always to command a high price—that most quantifiable of wine measurements—yet they may not appeal at all to all wine drinkers. Never feel that you ‘ought’ to like or dislike a wine. The most important aspect of any wine is that you enjoy it.”
Fortunately, I was given a second chance. This time, deciding on a safe bet, I ordered the Willamette Valley Vineyards 2005 Pinot Noir from Oregon. Smooth and balanced, fruity and dry, like drinking liquid ruby, so to speak.
I looked around and instantly saw that I was redeemed, that I might even be allowed to order wine again at our next night out.
It’s not just the wine: Napa’s Patz & Hall winery tasting room rocks.