Good wines v. Bad wines

I am easily asked twice a week one very fundamental question about wine, which is, "What makes a good wine good and a bad wine bad?"

When we look at the world of wine and the thousands of varieties out there as well as the techniques of so many different winemakers this might seem like an impossible question to answer.

The truth of the matter is that there are fundamental flavors that can be detected in wine that will give us a very good fingerprint on what makes the wine "good" or "bad." Those who say that all wine is good to a varying degree, that there is a bright side to every glass of wine, might have something, but I am not convinced (or I should say, they have not convinced me) that this is really true.

I grew up in the wine business in the 1960s, working and living very close to the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. In those days there were very few wineries, a handful in each valley and it was very easy to visit the wineries and talk to the winemakers. There were no "rock star" winemakers then and the hype had not yet filled the consciousness of the wine consumer. Things like single Vineyard designations barrique winemaking, reserve bottlings and long winded wine articles in glossy magazines with 100 point flavor scales were far in the future. The agonizing over flavor sensations, the heavy pondering over which hint of oak or which slight nuance of cassis or terroir simply did not exist at that time and frankly had one used that type of evaluation when tasting wine he or she would have been looked at as some sort of alien from the planet Dork!

Evaluation and the understanding of wine was simple, to the point and folks moved on to the next glass of wine without fuss or further baloney. Once in a while you would get a nod or a murmer of approval and maybe a word or two of "pretty good wine" or "this wine stinks" and that would be that.

It seems, in today's wine world (something I am very intimately involved in) that wine geeks need to expound endlessly on the glass in front of them. I am finding this true of the younger and new wine judges in wine competitions where every glass being judged needs 15 minutes of explanation to find the "meaning" of the grape or the winemaker's intent. Please!

Here is the golden rule of wine evaluation; if you put a sip of wine in your mouth do you feel that you would like to have another? To what degree would you like to have another glass of this wine? If you feel that this wine does not send you or that you are looking around for another type or variety of wine, then (without agonizing over the meaning of life) start searching.

If the wine simply does not agree with you, move on. If, on the other hand, the wine feels "strange" in your mouth or is "off putting" then it is OK to say that this wine is "bad" to you, and to you, alone. If you want another glass, and wonder if you can afford the wine because it is very pleasant this wine is a "good" wine to you. This is very simple and straight forward and works wonders. Try not to get tied up in all of the wine jargon and craziness. Keep wine simple and joyful and you will be well ahead of most wine folks.

See you next week!