Are you a wine expert? | New Brief #235 (And where is Awatere?)

At what point can you be considered a wine expert? Is it when you have such good “theoretical” knowledge that you can place Bordeaux chateaux on a blind map and know which river flows through this and that wine region? When you, in a blind tasting, can guess the vintage, the region and the grape of, say, ten different wines? (*)

Or is it when you look critically at what you read and hear, don’t believe everything, question things and remove wines from their pedestals? (“Icons” are perhaps something that can be revered in other contexts, but not in the wine world.) Of course, they are linked. You must have some theoretical knowledge to be able to be critical.

The wine industry is particular in many ways. There can be such mass hysteria and hype around certain wines and producers, which results in high prices and shortages of those specific wines because everyone wants them. The strange thing, though, is that people continue to want them, high prices notwithstanding. A kind of cult is developed around the producer with a group of loyal admirers, a bit like a rock star.

But do people want the wine because everyone else wants it? Or because they think it is the very best wine?

There is a “must” to have tasted certain wines. There was even a wine writer who recently worried about the insane prices of some famous wines (more and more wines are getting there) because no wine student can afford to taste them. He even suggested that these exclusive wines (I think he mentioned Romanée-Conti and premier grand cru Bordeaux as examples) should be subsidised. How else can future winemakers and others learn what an outstanding wine tastes like?

He drew parallels with art students who can go to an art museum for free or for a small entrance fee and look at all the master painters of the world.

The comparison doesn’t hold for obvious reasons, nor do his arguments. A wine becomes expensive not only because it is of high quality. If that were the case, we would have many more happy wine producers and fewer happy wine enthusiasts. Furthermore, you can always find a just as exquisite (or better) wine, but less famous at a more reasonable price. If you know where to look.

Do you have to have driven a Ferrari to appreciate the driving pleasure of a Renault? Do you have to have visited a dozen three-star restaurants to understand how good food tastes? Above a certain price point, it’s more the name on the label that justifies the price than what’s in the bottle.

There is a reverence for certain wines and producers. At the primeur tastings in Bordeaux in spring, no one tastes the really exclusive wines blind. The journalists who give points to the wines taste together with the winemaker and/or the owner. The points will be high. Of course. I am not saying that the wines don’t deserve these high points, but no one knows what would have happened if they had been tasted blind. But you can guess. You are influenced by the chateau environment, of course, and by knowing what you are tasting.

So much nonsense is said and written about wines. Knocking some wines down from their pedestals every now and then feels pretty good. There are so many other wines that are just as good. Read, taste and listen but don’t forget to always have your critical mind switched on, don’t believe everything you see and hear, and trust your own taste. Then you are a wine expert.

(*) By the way, no one “guesses correctly” the region, the vintage, and the grape of 10 different blind-tasted wines.

Last day to vote!

Both of us have been nominated to participate in the Wine Travel Awards competition. It was started by the magazine Drinks+ as a way to help restart the wine sector after the pandemic. A great effort to try and help wineries and wine people across the world to get back on track. Part of the competition is a public vote.

So, please vote for us, click on these links and then click “vote”:

Vote for Britt as “top wine guide” (“I can assure you she is”, says Per).

Vote for Per as “author/writer of the year”.

You can vote for both. Deadline March 31.

Wine travel in harvest time

You can already start planning for wine tours next harvest season:

• Champagne, September 27 – October 1
• Champagne and Bordeaux, September 27 – October 5
• Bordeaux, October 1-5

Travel in winter (but summer)

Some of our most exceptional wine tours are during the winter. They are filled with very special experiences. In summer weather in the southern hemisphere!

You have three fantastic long-distance tours to choose from:

• Chile-Argentina in January 2024
• South Africa in February 2024
• New Zealand in March 2024

These are tours with unique and magnificent experiences.

More info on our wine tours here. “World’s Top Wine Tours“. Tours with the people who know wine and who have an unrivalled experience of wine and tours.

Travel in wine regions with someone you trust.

Enjoy the Brief!

Britt & Per

If you appreciate what we do, you can help us: Tell your friends about the Brief or send it to them.

Like us and follow us on social media:

BKWine Magazine on Facebook | Wine Tours on Facebook
Twitter | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube