If I had a penny for every time I come across persons who can afford wines that they will never quite enjoy as much for their ethereal delivery as for the price tag, I’d have enough to pay off a major lawsuit compensation in petty change. Clearly, God ensures a rather uneven distribution of money and good taste. And by good taste, I don’t mean who can afford to buy the most expensive wines in a restaurant. Instead, I mean someone who, when presented with a flight of wines, can confidently taste their way through and critically rate them for their merit. And this critique needn’t be something too technical — leave that to the winemakers and the sommeliers — and yet it should be weighty and meaty enough to sound like a wise and formed opinion; the kind that will help others form one too.
Long ago, I used to save my precious bottles to taste with such people, but so rare were they to come across that my wines kept dying on me, even the ones meant for long-term storing. Grudgingly, I lowered my expectations.
But I have never given up hope, for I believe that while a significant proportion of taste is an inherent quality, a generous amount of it is also an acquired art. Identifying a wine or guesstimating its age or worth is a skill, but the sensibility of appreciating good wine when it turns up is surely an art. So, you either have it or you don’t have enough of it; and in case of the latter, you can learn to simulate it. You can never fake it, but you can learn to emulate others who have it, and gradually, as the pattern becomes more formed, your liking for certain flavours and styles emerges more apparently hard-coded into your system.
Here then are a few pointers to get you initiated.
Price is ambiguous: Many people believe that an expensive wine is a sign of good taste. The basic tenets of supply and demand decree that a bottle that is good eventually gets expensive. But it can’t be assumed that a wine is bad just because it is not pricey. Wines from lesser-known regions, or from countries with weaker currencies can be qualitative and yet appear cheap. Men of taste evaluate on merit, not merely price.
Preferences are subjective; quality is not: You may or may not like a certain tannic wine, but that should not blur your ability to assess its quality independent of personal choices. That most important character of good taste is the ability to first identify it.
Social settings: Always remember that no matter how rare good wines are, good friends are rarer still. Do not size up someone for what they enjoy. In fact, accommodate for it and ensure that while serving or ordering wines, you don’t limit yourself to what you know and like. Experiment and try to be inclusive. So what if you get it wrong? A bad bottle in good company can still manage to fare well.
Experiment: It is the only way to increase your knowledge. The more variety of wines you try, the more you enrich your tasting profile and form more weighted opinions.
Honesty: While good manners may keep you from presenting a very brusque tasting note, good taste requires you to be honest with yourself. But, like with ugly furniture at friends’ places, you have to learn to tip-toe around it.
