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RE: I suspect the problem is...

Posted by IMINTHEBASEMENT on July 16, 2009 at 07:42:33:
Long live Andre Tchelistcheff!! BV is not Bose although Andre's eyebrows were 3 dimensional!! No lightning bolts please.
I thought Silver Oak Alexander Valley was great stuff in the 80's, 1985 was amazing, but now it's just overpriced. There are so many great wines out there, and personal taste is the final word. There is soooo much BS in the wine biz because many people are either intimidated by the selection of brands, which is what they rely on, along with ratings. Although these are the most common guides, the best one is a wine merchant that listens to your likes and dislikes, and wants you to develop your own palate based on this. Then you start experimenting based on your findings. What you smell and taste is just as important as the grape variety or region (although these are important to establish general styles or characteristics of a particular wine). You could conduct a blind tasting with knowledgeable winos, and shock most of them when the labels are identified. We spend a lot of time using our eyes to formulate opinions that should be governed primarily by our smell and taste.
In short, if you can find a good wine shop that cares more about you than a label or a rating, then you are on the right road. The next step is to use your instincts, not other people's opinions to determine what scores the best. The more you taste and focus, the more you ultimately learn and find that you will agree with the majority of wine geeks on what quality is, and develop YOUR palate. This stuff is all about enjoyment and sharing a meal with friends. Many people take themselves too seriously and hide behind the guise of status and pedigree, and use it to intimidate the beginner. Usually this type of wine snob knows a lot less than you might think and will be humbled in a blind tasting.
Life is too short to drink bad wine, but don't lose sight of what makes it good in the first place.