Good taste

Discussions about good taste are interesting. It can be provoking, and specially people who are sensitive will find the subject uncomfortable. In fact, the only time when the subject comes up and is discussed without hard feelings is when very few persons are envolved, and these persons have the same, or almost same, point of view in this matter. Why are most people afraid of discussing this issue? I'm not!

A while ago me and a friend of mine was uncorking a couple of bottles to try later on that evening. He had just returned from Switzerland where he visited a wine maker in Valais, a region from where I haven't tried so many wines, so I was really curious about what he brought to our informal tasting. I had already opened up a full bodied Refosco dal Peduncolo rosso (2001) "I Ferreti" and the potent Cabernet Franc (2003) "Vylyan".

I chose these as I knew that they were unknown to my guest, and hereby we could surprise each other.

After the first sips from the first glass my friend suddenly says:
- People have bad taste.


First I was a bit surprised by his sudden comment. Not provoked, only a little confused because the comment was so sudden and not directly related to his previous comment on the Refosco wine - which he liked.

After three seconds of thinking about what he said and ment I replied:
- I totally agree.

This may sound like we are some kind of self appointed judges of what is good or bad taste, and you may think that this is snobbery. Well, think again...

What I mean is when so many of the wine drinkers, or let's say, wine consumers, drinks so much lousy wine, and many times pays to much for it too, we can't accuse them for having good taste.

And it's not about money. Because we all know that money doesn't buy class - or good taste.

There are many examples which demonstrates this fact. One is when the middle class couple goes to a restaurant. They will probably spend at least 25 euros on the wine. Some people spend lots of more of course, but thats another discussion...
How much do you think the same couple spend on the wine for their Sunday dinner at home? Probably not more then 10-15. Most people don't even go above 5-7 euros for their grape juice consumed at home. The problem is not that the 7 euro wine is bad. The problem is that the 25 euro wine in the fancy restaurant probably didn't cost more than 7 euro if it was bought in the shop.

When you thought about that for a while you can then ask yourselves why people don't buy 25 euro wines in the shop to drink at home instead.

I think one of the reasons is that people don't care anymore, or can't. They are not thinking for themselves, and let the "experts" do the thinking part of the job. When it comes to wine people follow the so called wine expert tips, and believe in them too.
- Do you really think that the experts are unaffected by third parties, sellers and marketing professionals?

Therefor I equal 'good taste' with being independent when selecting - and it's not only about wine!

Before I end this article you maybe would like to know how the Swiss/Valais wine was? Extraordinary of course. I'm not publishing any tasting notes here, because I don't think thats important, especially if you can't try them anyway. But if you ever have been in the alps, and remember how clean everything is when breathing the high, unpolluted air. Imagine that in a glass of well composed red containing Syrah, Humagne rouge, Cornalin and Pinot noir; Balanced into perfection as a Swiss made watch.

White wine

We arrived late to San Floriano del Collio after visiting a couple of both well known and unknown vineyards in the heart of Friuli.

The same day I had already enjoyed a glass of the sensational Picolit at Rocca Bernarda, tasted the mature Tocai Friulano/Chardonnay cuvée (2000) "Ronco degli Agostiniani", the last vintage made by Walter Filiputti (from when he still was making wine at the ancient monestary "Abbazia di Rosazzo") and some other excellent wines which I would like to 'keep for myself'. But I was still in the mood for discovering something unknown, although we have had a day of fantastic tastings and inspiring discussions. Not mentioning the cases of these and other producers wines in the trunk.

Usually, all year around, guests are welcome to visit growers and winemakers, if you arrive at normal visiting hours of course. But there are some periods when they don't welcome you. It's maybe not hard to guess, but I say it anyway: Harvest time, for example, is not a good time to knock on a winemakers door. Or in the San Floriano case - when the producer and his family is working late bottling the last vintage to make space for the next harvest.

All family members were working on the mobile bottling machine, which they only can use a couple of days per year as it is shared with the other winemakers of San Floriano. And this was after sunset, but we entered anyway; it was the last chance this day to discover another Picolit. First I felt a bit inconvenient, as I know how it feels when someone's busy doing something important and still have to be polite and hospitable with a stranger. After 2 minutes of explaining our situtation, or let's say, desperation, we stood in the 400 year old cellar. And the uncomfortable situation had turned into the opposite.

If you know the map of the Central Europe, you know that this part (Friuli) of todays Italy is bordering to Slovenia. The village of San Floriano is actually on the border, and the wine district is reaching into both countries. And maybe if you also know some history, you can imagine that this region has experienced many battles and 'owner changes'. The cantina we were standing is the only one remaining in this village after bombings during both first and second world war.

The other remarkable thing with this cantina is that there is a well where the water level is only 2-3 meters below the floor - in the cellar. This may not sound very unusual, but it is. Why? Because the cellar is located quite high up on the hills, and no other vineyard in this village has water so high up the mountain. This means that there is a lot of ground water for the neighboring vineyards. A good helper in years when it doesn't rain enough.

The information about the well and the cellar story was delivered to me by mr Muzic, owner and winemaker. After inviting us to try his wines he immediately quit working on the bottling machine. Without stressing us through a touristic 'try and buy-tasting' he sat down with us and we transformed into welcomed guests. After a few sips of the Collio Sauvignon Blanc I felt that this is a moment to remember and the discussion with the proprietor reached much deeper than it can be between a host and his first time guest. On the other hand, it was not the first time I felt like this. Actually, this feeling is fairly common when you spend some time with a traditional winemaker…

Does it matter what we talked about? - Of course it does, but I don't find it relevant to publish that in this article. Does it matter what we drank? - Yes and no. Both the Collio Cabernet Sauvignon and the Isonzo Cabernet Franc was good, and the Primo Legno I tried later on was excellent. But why analyze if the "Cabernet Sauvignon is better than the Franc"? Or even worse; When hearing phrases like 'I prefer red wine in front of white' I think that people who say so haven't spent many coins on the necessary bottles of white to have for occasions like '…just in case if one of our dinner party guests prefer white'.

I end this story shortly by compressing my thoughts into one line, like compressing a year's work in the vineyard into one barrel, bottle or just a glass of white wine:

A glass of good wine contains more than the wine itself.

Why?

To start with I would like to declare that I am not very fond of blogging. This is actually the first article, in the first blog, I have published. And this after many hours of reconsiderations of the reason to start a blog. You may ask yourself why, as I did, and maybe later on we'll come up with a good reason. This may sound confusing, and for the reader who isn't rethinking what he or she is reading it probably will be.

Many important things in life are difficult to understand right away, among all those things we'll never understand. I am not writing this because I think that I can answer the meaning of life. This would be stupid and I would also laugh at a person who claims to have all the answers. (If you are looking for those answers you better read Stephen Hawkings or some other clever persons thoughts.)

So, I'll try to focus on a few things which are all related to... ...yes, you've probably guessed it by now. Wine.

But first things first - a small warning before getting started:
If you are impatient and need quick answers (I can tell you that this will take some time);
If you think you already know enough or everything about wine;
If you are a so called "wine connoisseur" and have a snobbish attitude to wine drinking;
If you are a person who can't take professional, personal, criticism - sarcastic or not.

- You can all stop reading now.

Or if you like, please read on, but with open minds.

That's what its all about actually. Because as I see it, a major part of the wine drinking population has been mislead for decades. Thanks to the global wine industry's marketing tactics, people have become wine consumers, instead of wine drinkers. I don't like this fact, and with the following articles I will do my best to make a statement for the passionate wine growers, producers and the true wine lovers.

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