{"id":3024,"date":"2025-06-29T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3024"},"modified":"2025-06-29T15:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T15:04:42","slug":"forgotten-tastings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3024","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Tastings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Power Tasting\u2019s<\/em> motto is \u201cKnow what you like.&nbsp; Remember what it\u2019s called\u201d.&nbsp; Developing a taste memory is one of the most difficult skills to develop for wine professionals.&nbsp; For us amateurs, it\u2019s enough to be able to keep in mind some general characteristics, such as \u201cX winery makes light, fruity Pinot Noirs\u201d or \u201cA typical Napa Valley Chardonnay is buttery and oaky\u201d.&nbsp; For all the importance of remembering, there is also something to be said for its counterpart: forgetting.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"387\" src=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3025\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image.png 620w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-300x187.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>&nbsp; From the movie <\/em>Sideways<em>. Photo courtesy of 20<sup>th<\/sup> Century Fox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When entering a tasting room, we have to forget what we\u2019ve read, heard or tasted previously and bring an open mind (and mouth) to evaluating what we\u2019re being served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The only thing that matters is what\u2019s in the glass.<\/strong>&nbsp; We have had occasions to return to a winery whose products we hadn\u2019t cared for.&nbsp; We have had some happy surprises, such as at Napa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2376\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2376\">Black Stallion<\/a>.&nbsp; And we have also had more disappointments than we like to remember.&nbsp; Perhaps ownership of a winery changed hands, or they hired a new winemaker or maybe they just hit a bad year.&nbsp; Focus on the wine in front of you and you will improve your tasting acumen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t always trust your first sip.<\/strong>&nbsp; This is especially the case when the server opens a new bottle in front of you.&nbsp; We have often experienced that at home, with good science behind our reaction.&nbsp; Every wine label has a warning: \u201cContains sulfites\u201d.&nbsp; They\u2019re used to kill germs and prevent spoilage, but they also may leave a slightly sulfurous gas in the bottle.&nbsp; In part, that\u2019s why we let wine breathe, but that\u2019s not always possible in a wine tasting setting.&nbsp; So forget the first taste, swirl the wine somewhat aggressively to let the gas escape and taste it again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t let your memories fool you.<\/strong>&nbsp; It\u2019s a natural human tendency to approach an experience with expectations and then let those expectations override the current reality.&nbsp; This is more than being in the moment, as previously recommended. It requires an active effort <em>not<\/em> to think about what you <em>think<\/em> you remember (not always the same as what you actually remember).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stick to your guns.<\/strong>&nbsp; You can and should continue to have your own opinion about a wine even though other people are trying to tell you that you are wrong.&nbsp; Almost by definition, there\u2019s no arguing taste (although that\u2019s exactly what we do when we go wine tasting).&nbsp; So if you like a wine and everyone else in your party detests it, you can forget their complaints.&nbsp; It\u2019s a good wine\u2026for you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>One bad day doesn\u2019t rule out a winery forever.<\/strong>\u00a0 We have <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=102\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"102\">written before<\/a> that you ought to give a winery a second chance.\u00a0 The mightiest hitters sometimes strike out.\u00a0 The Nobel Prize winning author doesn\u2019t always write a masterpiece.\u00a0 And sometimes the most renowned vineyards come up with a poorer wine.\u00a0 So, as we say in Brooklyn, <em>fuggedaboutit<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Power Tasting\u2019s motto is \u201cKnow what you like.&nbsp; Remember what it\u2019s called\u201d.&nbsp; Developing a taste memory is one of the most difficult skills to develop for wine professionals.&nbsp; For us amateurs, it\u2019s enough to be able to keep in mind some general characteristics, such as \u201cX winery makes light, fruity Pinot Noirs\u201d or \u201cA typical &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=3024\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Forgotten Tastings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3024"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3028,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions\/3028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}