Wine Decanted: ignore the misconceptions, drink more wine

Nicole Campbell (of Lifford Wine Agency) joins the Tongue & Cheek blog with Wine Decanted, a bi-weekly column about wine. You won’t find tasting notes or scores here. Instead she’s taking the hot air out of wine writing and giving us tips for folks who just want to learn more about the good grape. Loosen your ties and relax, this is supposed to be fun, not pretentious.

As the daughter of a once-restaurateur now wine-importer, wine is in my blood. I am lucky enough to have spent my 10th birthday on an Italian wine trip, drank too many good bottles to remember, and learned about wine by kicking the dirt of the vineyards and getting lost in barrel-rooms around the world. Having recently entered the wine-industry full-time and on the precipice of my first ever harvest in Bordeaux, I am insanely passionate about my job. As much as I love wine and working in the wine industry, I know that starting to learn about it can be intimidating and there is always more to learn. In this and my future blog entries, I’ll address wine in an informative and accessible way.

From basic to obscure, I can’t wait to delve into the nitty-gritty of wine. First, before we pop the cork, three pervasive misconceptions about wine must be put down for good:

1) The more expensive the wine, the better it will be.

Wine price and quality are not necessarily related. Clearly, certain desirable, but costly vineyard practices make a big difference in quality. For example, Pinot Noir is a delicate grape that needs careful and therefore, expensive handling. If you see a Pinot Noir at your local wine store for less than $20, back away quickly as it probably isn’t of good quality. That said there are many factors that go into pricing that have nothing to do with what is in the bottle. For example, brand name premiums, marketing costs and a winemaker’s ego can cause prices to rise but may not have any correlation to the quality of wine. I have had terrible $200/btl wines, and delicious $12/btl wines. All this to say, with a little knowledge and an open mind, you can drink excellent wine at any budget.

2) Wine and food pairings are rigid rules that should be followed.

There is a notion that certain types of wine can only go with certain types of food. For example, that you must have white wine with fish or that you have to have a big red wine with steak. This is wrong. Pairing is not a science. It doesn’t matter what Joe-the-wine-guy thinks you should drink with your pasta, it matters what you want to drink with it. The most important rule of matching is that you love the wine you are drinking.

An example: a classic wine pairing rule is to match spicy food with an unoaked, fruity white wine (like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling). By pairing spice with light white wine, the wine serves to reduce spice and neutralize the palate. I love spicy food. So the other day, I matched my spicy chicken fajitas with a big, fruity, peppery Shiraz from Kaesler. The result? I was in heaven, the spicy accents of my dish accentuated  and elevated by the big, juicy red wine. Spicy food and Shiraz? Every wine book would tell you no, but if you like spice it is a phenomenal experiment. And that’s just it, wine and food should be about fun experiments and learning which pairings work for you.

3) The higher the wine score, the better the wine.

It is a sad reality that much of a wine’s success depends on the opinions of a few wine critics. For example, wine critic Robert Parker’s 0-100 point rating can make or break a wine. He is so influential that some wineries have begun changing the style of wine they produce to suit his palate. Parker tends to like very strong fruit and oak qualities in wine. Maybe you love big fruit and oak flavours, and your palate falls roughly in line with Parker’s. Maybe instead, you prefer more subtle nuanced wine. Likely, your palate falls somewhere in between.

Critics, like Parker, have preferences and eccentricities that don’t necessarily match your own. They are also prone to human error, and as much as they try to be consistent the difference between an 89 and a 92 is virtually meaningless. Are wine quality and score often correlated? Sure. But when it comes down to it, the most important opinion of a wine is your own.

Tacking down your opinion on wine is something easier said than done. Learning about your palate takes time, and just like your taste in food evolves, so too does your taste in wine. Luckily, learning is the fun part. Exploring your palate is all about drinking a wide variety of wines and seeing which you like best.

For example, if you love Chardonnay, experiment with Chardonnays from different regions. Pay attention to their similarities and differences and note which qualities you like best. Do you prefer Chardonnay’s from warm climates like Chile that tend to have more tropical fruit flavours? Or do you prefer Chardonnay’s from cooler climates like France (often labeled as Chablis) that tend to have more stone fruit characteristics? These observations are crucial in unravelling your palate and helping you discover a range of wines you like (much more on this in future posts).

Now it’s your turn. Whether you’re a pro wine taster with a cellar full of goodies or new to wine, join the conversation.

Question: Are there any other wine rules that you hold or have wondered about? What other misconceptions do you think prevents people from trying new wines or venturing beyond their safe choices?

Nicole is a wine blogger and all around wine worker bee at Lifford Wine Agency, Ontario’s largest supplier of wine to the province’s hospitality industry and the number one supplier of fine wine to the LCBO.

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