The
Value of Heresy Is
that wine really great tasting or just really
expensive?
One of the
grand fantasies people entertain about wine is
to taste a really expensive one. The
expectation is that the higher the cost, the
more fantastic the taste; that, if one is
willing and able to pay the price, some point of
sensual ecstasy can be reached.
Although I
hate to break your cork, this is probably not
so. Beyond a certain basic level, the factors
that determine wine price have more to do with
supply and demand than with quality. The good
news is that, in reality, the point of
diminishing returns, where it doesn't get any
better tasting than this, is not that far from
the average consumer's economic
grasp.
Once a month,
the Professional Friends of Wine tasting panel
meets to taste, evaluate, and describe wines.
Rather than willy-nilly, a "theme" or category
is selected in advance, so we're comparing wines
of a similar type. Each member brings a bottle
in a brown bag to hide its identity and the bags
are labeled with letters, A, B, C, etc. to keep
track of which wine is poured in which glass.
We silently
taste the wines by themselves for 30-45 minutes
before food is served. As we continue to taste
and write our impressions and comments on a
form, we then individually rank our preferences.
The rankings are then compiled, the wines
discussed, and the label identities revealed as
the bottles are unbagged. We normally have ten
wines at each session.
We recently
tasted some examples of Cabernet Franc in this
fashion to some quite surprising results,
considering the price range, heritage, and
reputation of the wines. Our host for the
tasting was Jon's
Bear Club.
Owner-chef Jon Koobation prepared a very tasty
meal of a green salad with a light raspberry
vinaigrette, Roasted Lamb Round with a reduction
sauce, and Rigatoni with a Roasted Red Onion and
Tomato Sauce. Each of the dishes went very well
with and actually improved the enjoyment of
several of the wines.
What we didn't
realize was that Jon had also, as a treat for
the group, slipped two bottles of Chateau Cheval
Blanc (made predominantly from Cabernet Franc),
both from highly-rated vintages, well-aged, (and
expensive to replace) into our tasting. In
traditional wine circles, it is considered near
heresy to comparatively taste expensive and
inexpensive wines together.
The surprise
was that the Cheval Blancs blended into the mix
so well and neither their ages nor their
pedigrees were extremely obvious. And, rather
than blowing away the competition of California
wines, the most expensive of which was less than
1/6 the cost, the French wines settled into the
bottom of the group rankings. It's not that we
disliked them; the rankings were fairly tight
and by consensus we quite enjoyed all of the
wines in this tasting (see our Tasting
Notes).
Does this mean
that Chateau Cheval Blanc 1985 St. Emilion, at
$460 a pop, doesn't actually taste 76.67 times
better than Pepperwood Grove 1998 California
Cabernet Franc at $6? Not necessarily; it might
be that, in spite of the PfW members' experience
with and dedication to wine tasting, we're not
very good at it. Or, it's possible that the PfW
panelists have "California Palates"
characterized by preferences for wines that have
more fruit, ripeness, and youth to their
flavors. Maybe the subtlety and grace of the
aged wines were overwhelmed by the vitality and
power of the young ones. On the other hand, it
might be that grape growing and wine making
techniques have improved so markedly in the last
twenty years that traditional French benchmarks
of winemaking quality no longer
dominate.
What our
tasting result most likely means is that the
flavor differences that exist between premium
wines may be much more subtle to most people's
perceptions than the price differences would
seem to indicate. The fantasy of tasting as good
a wine as exists may quite likely be fulfilled
at the local wine shop and even within the
confines of the weekly grocery budget.
by
Jim
LaMar
