How many of us, after tasting a wine varietal one time say, “I don’t like it?” I have done this myself, but have learned over the years there are many factors that may have contributed to my initial reaction. It could be the particular winery, vintage or even how the wine was stored and shipped from the winery to the store or your home. Wine making is also complicated — variables include the terroir (a group of vineyards or vines from the same region, belonging to a specific appellation and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions, grapes and wine making savoir-faire, which contribute to give specific personality to the wine), the wine making itself, the affect of weather on the vineyard and bottle age before release.
Further complicating our wine tasting experience is how we pair our wine with food. There are wines that pair well with certain foods and others that don’t make the cut. I tried a very good cabernet sauvignon with carrot cake just to see if it was a good pairing. It was awful! The sweetness of the cake made the very good cabernet taste bitter. It was a good wine, but a bad pairing.
The point is that too many times we judge a wine solely on ratings or the one time we tried it and didn’t like it. There are so many varietals and wineries, it would be a shame to miss out on potentially good wines based on a one-time experience.
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