Never Surrender Your Palate
If a wine tastes like shit to you, that doesn't mean you don't understand it, or that you aren't a "sophisticated" taster, or that you have an "uneducated palate." It means you don't like it, and that is, actually, the highest authority in the subjective world of wine tasting.
I started drinking wine because I tasted wine that I loved, and I had to get me some more like it! I didn't start drinking wine that I thought I "should" drink because it was recommended to me by a sommelier, or wine expert, or because it got a 97 point score.
If I had felt obliged to drink wine - if I felt I ought to drink it - I wouldn't be writing to you today from my winery's website. I never would have even liked the experience, let alone love it.
I'm a rebel at heart. I naturally resist doing anything that involves feeling social pressure to do it. There is no joy for me in conforming.
I started by discovering one "gateway" bottle that made me groan with pleasure. It opened a door to the entire world of wine that I now love.
Now I love to introduce people to wine. I love to help potential new wine drinkers to discover its history, culture, and various styles. I do wine tastings and classes all around Los Angeles.
But I always start by saying, "At the end of this tasting you may realize you don't like this wine, and that's okay. Like what you like, and don't like what you don't like. Never surrender your palate to a purported wine expert. The only expert, when it comes to your palate, is you."
My parents like sweet wines. White zinfandel is pretty much their ideal juice. So when I go to visit them, I don't bring a red Bordeaux to try to expand their range. I bring them something sweet.
There's a whole world of incredible sweet wine out there. The best wine in the world for centuries, with entire vineyards dedicated to making wine only for royalty due to its preciousness, was Tokay - a sweet wine. My parents would love it, along with other very expensive botrytized wines like German TBAs or Sauternes.
There is an amazing array of wine styles out there. Let's not be snobby about any single style. Let's not be judge-y when it comes to people with other preferences. They aren't idiots, they just have different tastes.
At the end of the day, of course I want you to love wine. But that's the distinction for me. I want you to LOVE it. Not "appreciate" it. Not "understand" it. Not "graduate" to wine because it's an "adult" drink.
Unfortunately, the trend in the wine industry is too often a cerebral approach. Critics and sommeliers appeal to your mind when they should be tempting your gut, your heart, your palate.
Maybe this is one of the reasons why wine drinking is on the decline, especially among younger generations. Maybe what we need is a revival of personal-preference-first wine culture.
Maybe what we need is more white zinfandel.