BoomerGirl Diary

I attended a great wine tasting last night held at the local wine bar. It was titled “Battle of the Big Reds” and featured big, bold Bordeaux style wines.

Set up like a formal judging, we had 12 wines poured before us, and we were give the task (oh, what hard work!) of tasting and rating the wines. We were asked to award Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, or no medal if the wine didn’t warrant one.

We were told that 10 of the wines were from British Columbia, and two were from somewhere else in the world. We were given no other information.

So, let the challenge begin! The room was filled with about 20 people including several wine makers and others in the wine industry and the rest of us amateur wine “lovers”.

All was very quiet and serious as we swirled and sniffed and sipped. Each of us rated the wines by our own taste buds.

Then, this is where it got fun and interesting; we went around the room giving our individual verdicts on each wine. The ratings were so diverse!

The couple next to me gave Gold to the wine that I liked the least! Most wines had votes that ranged all over the scale: from Gold to “nothing minus, minus”. The fascinating part was that even those with supposedly educated palates were often at opposite ends of the scale.

When the wines were unveiled, we discovered that they ranged in price from $35 to a 2nd growth Bordeaux at $110. And, guess what? That wine didn’t fair any better than several of the other, much lower priced wines.

There was no clear winner. In fact, given the aggregate scores, not one wine was awarded Gold in the final tally.

So, what? Well, here’s what I learned: When it comes to wine, the only thing that matters is 1. Do you like it? And, 2. would you buy it?

Isn’t that liberating?