{"id":2289,"date":"2023-01-30T19:47:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2023-01-30T19:57:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:57:51","slug":"tasting-less-that-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2289","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Less that the Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have been very fortunate in our wine tasting experiences over the years.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had the chance to visit and taste some of the most famous and exclusive wines from the United States, Europe, Australia and South Africa.\u00a0 We have bought a few bottles and from time to time we open some of those bottles and give ourselves the pleasure of tasting greatness.\u00a0 But most of the time, we drink very nice wines that are either from one the wine clubs we are members of or which are easily available, accessible and economical.\u00a0 We believe that most wine enthusiasts follow the same pattern that we do.\u00a0 (We\u2019ve often wondered whether the Rothschilds ever open a simple Beaujolais on a steamy summer evening.\u00a0 If any Rothschilds are reading this, please let us know.)<\/p>\n

The problem, if that\u2019s what it is, is that when we go wine tasting we don\u2019t gravitate towards the wineries and wines that are our normal fare on a routine Tuesday.\u00a0 We choose the wineries that we know, from experience or reputation, that make the best wines in that region.\u00a0 In many instances, these wineries make an array of wines, some of which are low-priced, mass-market entries and others that approach the very finest.<\/p>\n

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Beringer\u2019s Rhine House, which includes Beringer\u2019s premium tasting room.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take one winery as an example: Beringer<\/a>.\u00a0 They have some wines that sell below ten dollars a bottle.\u00a0 (In fairness, they do not sell these wines at their winery in St. Helena.\u00a0 For a long while, these plonk wines were served in dive bars and at company affairs, and we thought that these were all Beringer made.)\u00a0 \u00a0At the other extreme, their Private Reserve can rival any wine from California or elsewhere.\u00a0 There are other top-end single vineyard varietals and there are many Beringer wines at the lower end of the price spectrum that are quite enjoyable.\u00a0 What do we drink when we visit Beringer?\u00a0 Their finest wines, of course.\u00a0 We have some at home, but more often we open their wines that cost 80% less than the top tier.\u00a0 And we like them quite a lot.<\/p>\n

The lesson, we guess, is that we ought to pay more attention to the less than the best wines when we go tasting.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult.\u00a0 Once we\u2019ve tasted the best, everything else seems rather drab.\u00a0 Of course, we try to save the best for last, but then we often choose the premium tasting menu and never even sip anything in the more affordable category.<\/p>\n

There have been cases in which we have asked to compare wines made from the same grape on both the premium and the regular menus.\u00a0 Most servers don\u2019t care; after all, their potential customer is more likely to enjoy the costlier wine more and might buy some.\u00a0 There is a line of thought that if the top wines are excellent, some of that excellence should be reflected in the lesser ones.\u00a0 There are many instances in which that is true.\u00a0 But in these times of mega-corporate takeovers, it is often the case that the grapes for the commercial wines are purchased from other vineyards, pressed and bottled in different factories and have far lesser quality controls.\u00a0 Sometimes the adage, \u201cyou get what you pay for\u201d is true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have been very fortunate in our wine tasting experiences over the years.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had the chance to visit and taste some of the most famous and exclusive wines from the United States, Europe, Australia and South Africa.\u00a0 We have bought a few bottles and from time to time we open some of those bottles … Continue reading Tasting Less that the Best<\/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":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2289"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}