Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Good cheap wine

Recently the New York Times published an article on inexpensive Malbec wine from Argentina. The central message of the article is something that I have been ruminating on for some time and has nothing to do with the tasting notes on the Malbec. Much more interesting than the tasting notes is a concept I have always lived by, which basically comes down to “The best wine is not always the best wine for the occasion.” As a professional Sommeliere I always made a point to buy wines for my list that were drinking well right now, not twenty years from now. Invariably this meant buying vintages less heralded than what what the wine writers were gushing over. What’s the use of drinking the very best wine from the very best vintage if it is infanticide? Often a so called “off-vintage” provides a wonderful wine for current consumption. Similarly, I can’t tell you how many times I have tasted a lineup to find that I prefer the least expensive, or entry level wine, over the wineries “star.”

New York Times writer Eric Asimov puts it well when he says “I have a different theory of cheapness as it applies to wine: Often in New World regions and increasingly in the Old World, a producer’s most expensive red wines are also the most done up — spiffed and polished and reeking of oaken vanilla and chocolate like too much makeup or hair pomade . . . the wines are made from grapes so overripe that the prevailing flavors are of baked fruit and jam. Either way, creating a flavor profile to fit a preconceived notion of an expensive wine diminishes any sense of place and individuality. That’s why I’m often more interested in a producer’s less expensive wines. If you can dodge the minefields of oak substitutes and other winemaking tricks that are intended to imitate expensive wines you just might find some wines in which you can taste simple essences rather than fancy mock-ups.”

For a look at the whole article, here’s the link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/dining/reviews/11wine.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=malbec&st=nyt&oref=slogin