(Third in a 3 part series)
Most people realize that I am asking them what their favorite alcoholic beverage is. Only once someone gave me a true answer. He said their oldest scotch! The reason I ask is that the question tells me what flavors you like in your alcohol. When people come in and they say they like a good scotch or whiskey; I go and pull out the El Anejo. I tell them not to think of this as a wine or as a scotch, but to use both thinking caps when they try the wine. 99% of the time the client loves this wine because it shares a little bit of the peat flavors and the smokiness. Yet it still has some dry fruitiness from a wine. When people tell me they like beer, I ask them which beer they have in mind. People who love sour beers love wines like the Peterson Barbera, where there is a lot of fruit and acid, but no sweetness in the wine. Stout lovers like the big bold and slightly earthy wines. People who love Bud and Coors and Natural Ice…. I refer them to questions one and two.
Out of all three questions this is the hardest one for me to explain. I have had a lot of experience tasting different types of alcohol and tasting many different flavors; but a lot of how I find the best wine is just making little connections. I watch your face, listen to what you say to the rest of the group, see how much is left in your glass, what you are nibbling on when you are drinking the wine, and how people are looking at other people tasting. The most important thing is to be able to make that mental connection between flavors and what your own palette remembers about them. I have the opportunity to test out my theories on many people every day. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. But the most important thing when it comes to tasting wines is to open up your mind to whatever memories their taste and smell bring to you and be able to connect them to other memories.
Great post Sami!
Very Very Very interesting take on wine preferences. I like gin & tonic and Jaggermeister. I don’t know how that mixes with the fact that I love earthy Pinots AND Ice Wine, “cat pee” Sauvignon Blancs from Australia AND mineral red wines from Lake County. I guess I am a lot all over the map, because I fail to see a thread that ties all these… 🙂
Well I think the commonality to your palette is the idea of herbaceous flavors on your palette. Have you tried the wild tea vodka by Absolut? That might be a fun new drink for you to try!
Sami worked her magic with me a year ago. Her ability to pour a glass closer and closer to my ideal bottle knowing more about my palate than I even seemed to know is close to sorcery. She really is a big part of why I began to move from drinking wine to understanding wine. I highly suggest dropping in and letting her waive her magic hand over a few glasses and be sure to bring the car with the big trunk! Sounds like I need to order a bottle of the Barbera.