The Wall Street Journal-20080112-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Food - Drink- Wine Notes
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Food & Drink: Wine Notes
EMOTIONAL JUDGMENTS
It's quite evident that your very special relationship contributes significantly to everything you do, including sharing a Penfolds Grange 2001. My question: As much of a special treat as a Chateau Margaux 1995 might provide, how likely is it that your Delicious rating on such a bottle would fall to, say, Good or OK if you weren't in love with each other, or if you were simply having an argument? My wife and I have found that even an OK bottle can quickly move our disposition up to Delicious! after an argument. Can it work in reverse?
-- Milt Valera,
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Make-up wine is always special. More generally, a central tenet of our column for all these years has been that you can't separate the taste of a wine from the experience you're having when you drink it. A wine will taste different depending on whether you're drinking it on the beach with a loved one or at lunch with the boss. When most of us think about the greatest bottles we've ever had, it's not coincidental that they are often related to special events -- vacations, anniversaries, even jumping out of an airplane (see next letter). Things are different for us now that we taste wine professionally, but wine, to us, will always be something much more than liquid in a bottle. That's what's so wonderful about it. It's one of many reasons why we say so often that just because we like a wine doesn't mean that you will and just because we don't like a wine doesn't mean that you won't; so much of your enjoyment depends on the moment, the specific bottle, the situation and the mood.
SOME SWEET CHOICES
Can you recommend a very sweet red wine? I'm tired of spending money on dry wines I dump down the drain. When I was an Army paratrooper, I used to make jumps with a canteen of water and a canteen of Boone's Farm Apple Wine. I was a Special Forces Green Beret and was in the service from May 1961 to 1983. I took along the Boone's Farm because I was a young lieutenant not making a great deal of money. It was cheap and available near many Army installations. It also satisfied my sweet tooth. I know your readers consider that junk, but I loved every drop.
-- Richard Palazzo,
Griswold, Conn.
The first wine Dottie enjoyed in college was Boone's Farm Apple Wine, so we're certainly not going to argue with you. In fact, we are asked more often than you might think to recommend sweet red wines. We are seeing more sweet reds from Eastern Europe on shelves these days, and we'd urge you to ask a good wine merchant about them. In addition, don't forget the classic sweet reds, Mogen David and Manischewitz, the kosher wines that many of us grew up with. We'd also suggest that you take a little bit of a chance and buy a bottle of Beaujolais from France. While Beaujolais is not sweet, it's very fruity and usually costs less than $10. Try it from the refrigerator and see what you think.
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Melanie Grayce West contributed to this column. You can contact us at [email protected].
