The Only Thing That Matters

By Alvin Wolff

I belong to a Bordeaux group that is part of an international organization. The Commanderie de Bordeaux aux États-Unis d’Amérique has 36 chapters across the United States. The St. Louis Chapter of the Commanderie has 60-65 members who are dedicated to the appreciation of fine wines from Bordeaux. About 12 years ago, our member in charge of our monthly events asked me to take over running our ample wine cellar; four years later, I became the person in charge of organizing and running our events. I’ve been to Bordeaux eight times over the years, leading groups of members who are taking their first Bordeaux visit. I also belong to an international Burgundy group that has over 100 members in St. Louis.

Wine and I became acquainted in college. There was Annie Green Springs, Bali Hi, and Blue Nun. It was a cheap buzz. When my children were born, 905 went out of business, and I took a splurge on wines I knew nothing about from the 1978 and 1979 Bordeaux vintage. Names like Chateau Lafleur and Chateau Margaux cost between $35 and $50 dollars a bottle. They were delicious, and I was hooked.

Wines began being delivered to my house from Bordeaux, Napa Valley, Tuscany, The Barossa Valley, The Rhone Valley, Burgundy, and other exotic faraway places.

Over the years, my travels have taken me to, besides Bordeaux, Burgundy, Australia, Argentina, Israel, California, Tuscany, and yes, Augusta, Missouri. Most of the wines I own have been purchased on release and stored at 55 degrees and 70 percent humidity. Storage under these conditions is important because it prevents the wine from premature deterioration, and aging lets wine develop its full potential. I’ve participated in many wine tastings over the years knowing what the wines are or where the wines were consumed blind.

The lesson learned from over 40 years of consumption is the only thing that matters is if you like it: period, end of story.

When I hear someone say that the wine tastes of chalk, I wonder when that person last ate chalk. There are positive adjectives that can be used: flowers, citrus, tree fruit, tropical fruit, red fruit, black fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, earth, oak, minerality, and negative adjectives: corked, Brettanomyces, cooked, volatile acidity, flabby and so on and so forth.

Nobody can tell you if you should like a wine or not. What I see most of all in novice tasters is that they lack confidence in knowing if they should like it or not. Ask yourself: Does it smell good? Does it taste good? Is the finish long? Do you like it? You can read all the wine books, magazines, emails, and puffery that you like. Reading about wine is like reading about sex. Nothing beats the real thing, and you can’t know what it’s like until you have experienced it.

Blind tastings are a great way to honestly assess a wine. There have been countless times when the wine is tasted with its label obscured, nobody likes the wine, and then when the wine is revealed, somebody or anybody will say: “ If I knew what it was I would have liked it better.” I don’t care if it’s a Lafite Rothschild or a two-buck chuck. There are good bottles and bad bottles. The best way to assess a wine is by drinking it without any bias, either blatant bias or confirmation bias.

Conversely, I was recently at an event where some very expensive wines were poured. Everybody knew what we were drinking. Some of the wines were way too young and very alcoholic. They were going to be great …but not yet. Since everybody knew what they were, everybody who spoke about the wines was effusive and pandering. It reminded me of a dog licking someone’s shoes. Not to be a buzzkill, I remained silent. The next day I spoke to a few friends who agreed that the wines were consumed way too young and really weren’t that enjoyable.

If you’re going to buy wines for cellaring, look at CellarTracker.com. Cellar tracker is an app that has community comments about the wine, and these notes will give you a good window of when to open up a bottle. Cellar Tracker also has a lot of valuable comments from people like you and me who score the wine, and the comments are very consistent from tasting note to tasting note.

If you’re new to wine, the wine pricing has gotten stupid. Ask your friends who good producers are. Start with the winemaker’s, chateau’s, or domaine’s entry-level wines, which can be anywhere from $20-$75 and up. There are tremendous values out there. You don’t need to spend a fortune to drink great wines. You do have to spend a fortune to be a label drinker. Ask yourself what you want to be. Someone who really likes and appreciates wine or a showoff.

Bottom line: THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS IF YOU LIKE IT.

You can contact Alvin Wolff at alvinwolff@gmail.com