Your Experience of Red Wine

I’ll begin by looking at our featured wine.

Valpolicella – pronounced vahl-paw-lee-chel-lah

Valpolicella tends to be low in tannins, velvety, and fruity – tart cherry fruit and slightly bitter aftertaste. The grapes used in the production of this wine are Corvina Veronese (40-70%), Rondinella (20-40%) and Molinara (5-20%). And in some cases, 15% of a combination of varieties such as Rossignola, Negrara, Trentina, Barbera and Sangiovese.

Valpolicella comes from the Veneto region of Italy.  Veneto is the largest of the three regions in northeastern Italy.  The best Valpolicella is a Valpolicella Classico.  FYI – Classico means that the grapes come from the first and best part of the DOC* wine zone. 

* DOC refers to regulated place name.

Now let’s look at some feedback I recently received:

“I cannot believe how horribly you write! Your sentence structure is naive and uninspiring, your grammar, barely adequate.  Your use of misspelled words and incorrect tense is painful! Please do the oenophilic community a favor and resign thy silly, contentious, self-absorbed, and ridiculous adventure as writer/critic to the garbage bin, n'est pas?!”

Grammatically, I’ll certainly take this feedback into consideration. However this feedback provides a much more interesting and better illustration about wine.

It’s very interesting because this feedback illustrates an attitude that many people encounter when they begin to learn about wine – or for that matter, once they even become knowledgeable about wine.

Actually: This is exactly why I created this newsletter.  To help every-day-people learn more about wine without being inhibited by an attitude of snobbery. 

Even if you consult some of the books and magazines out there on wine, they often are much more advanced than they have to be, for someone at the beginning or intermediate stage of wine. 

Wine should not be reserved for the elite, the most stylish, the most grammatically correct. 

Wine should be enjoyed by everyone. 

You see there are big movements in the world today.  Many average people, like me, are coming forward and simplifying what was once a subject reserved for the select few. 

This is true in many aspects of society.  This couldn’t be truer in the world of wine.  Take for instance, Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV, he’s teaching a lot of people about tasting wine and making things easier for them.

Whenever a movement occurs, there is always a lot of resistance from those who possess a high-handed attitude. 

Don’t get me wrong:  There is nothing wrong with being knowledgeable about red wine.  That’s what this newsletter is all about.  However, there is absolutely no need to be pretentious or arrogant.  And most importantly, there is no reason why someone cannot start with little or no knowledge, or even an intermediate level of wine knowledge, and avoid interference from this attitude along the way.

Henry David Thoreau once said:

“Those authors are successful who do not write down to others, but make their own taste and judgment their audience.”

In other words, your own taste and judgment are the most important things.  This could not be truer than with wine. 

Following your own preferences, and ignoring the pompous and arrogant, will lead you to a truly successful wine experience. 

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn all you can about wine.  However you should approach those who are approachable, read information that is easily learned, and follow your taste along the way - ignoring any arrogance that attempts to stop you.

You see another person that is part of the movement of simplifying things is Bowe Packer.  He prides himself on simplifying wine so that you can enjoy it.

For instance:

Many of you might find yourselves out at a restaurant and in an awkward position when it comes to selecting, properly sampling the wine, and following the wine tasting ritual.  This does not have to be the case.

Many of you might be struggling with what wine pairs best with what food.  This does not have to be.

Many of you might be dining with a number of guests who all order something different.  How do you pair up the food?  Not to worry: you will not have to struggle with this anymore.

Many of you have questions over exactly how to serve wine or how to enjoy wine.

Enjoyment is the purpose of wine.  Doesn’t it make perfect sense to fully handle this aspect?

Well now you can accomplish all of the above by subscribing to my free newsletter.  It's a continuous newsletter all about red wine.