Some time ago, I visited Emmanuel Reynaud at Château Rayas in order to taste his 2012s from barrel. I asked him whether he thought it was a great vintage or merely a good one.
He thought for a moment, then explained that he didn’t believe in rating one vintage over another.
Like people, all vintages have different characters and qualities, and shouldn’t necessarily be seen simply as better or worse. It made me realise something about the different stages of wine appreciation.
The first stage is getting to know what you like. The second stage is understanding why you like it. The third is recognising quality in wine, even if it’s not to your taste.
The fourth stage is what Reynaud was getting at – to be able to see the value in all wines.
Stage 1: Discovering what you like
Shortly before I visited Reynaud, I was pouring wine at a large tasting event. I had several different styles in front of me, and I was excited about one in particular – a vin jaune from the Jura.
A man approached the stand and I poured him a glass. He tasted it and said ‘it’s a bit Marmite*, isn’t it’.
‘Does that mean you love it?’ I replied, innocently hoping to find a kindred spirit. ‘No, I mean it tastes of Marmite,’ he replied. ‘And that’s weird.’
I wanted to tell him about the six years and three months this wine spends in barrels under flor. I wanted to tell him about the significance of its 62cl clavelin bottle.
I wanted to tell him how well it went with Comté cheese. All the stuff that makes this elixir so fascinating to a wine geek like me.
But I knew it wouldn’t be helpful. It’s a wine that’s challenging at the best of times, and, being at the start of his journey, he needed an easier route in.
He was still at that first stage of wine appreciation – figuring out what he liked. Perhaps even if he liked wine.
Hopefully he went on to find some things that did appeal to him, which excited his tastebuds and spurred him on to explore further. If so, he might have reached the second stage of wine appreciation.
*(If you haven’t encountered Marmite before, it’s an English yeast extract that you spread on toast. Its pungent, umami flavour divides opinion, so to describe something as ‘a bit Marmite’ means you either love it or hate it.)
Stage 2: Knowing why you like it
When you discover a style you like – whether it’s Bordeaux, Riesling or Sherry – inevitably you want to try more.
There are endless bottles to explore and each holds the tantalising promise that it might be better than the last.
But you can only glean so much from drinking one bottle of it each week over dinner.
A crucial moment on any wine journey is when you start to taste more than one bottle at a time.
Until this point, a simple yes or no will answer the question of whether you like it or not.
With more than one bottle on the table, the question becomes an open one – which do you prefer, and why?
Comparison creates discussion, and preferences need explaining. When you can put it into words, your confidence grows.
Stage 3: Knowing what makes a wine good
If everyone around the table is in agreement over which wine is the best, then that seals it; it no longer feels like personal preference but objective truth – this bottle is better than that one.
What makes a good wine becomes clearer.
Being able to recognise that a wine is good quality, even if it’s not to your taste, is another step up.
Next come wine dinners, courses and online forums... From here, there’s no going back. I’ve never met an ex-wine lover.
But I believe there’s another level to wine enthusiasm.
Stage 4: Seeing the value in all wines
I was asked a simple question the other day that I struggled to answer. A friend asked me what were my favourite types of wine.
I found myself listing nearly every region and style imaginable. So I stopped myself and gave them a shorter version: I like all wines, as long as they’re good.
It might sound flippant but it’s true. Almost every style of wine that has stood the test of time offers some level of interest and enjoyment.
Some have taken longer to reveal themselves to me than others – I must admit vin jaune took me a while – but there are few established styles, regions or grapes with no redeeming bottles.
We all have personal favourites that we return to, but discovery is what keeps wine interesting.
And the greatest terroirs, such as Château Rayas, are interesting year in, year out. Every bottle tells the story of its growing season, and offers a different lens through which to understand the place and its people.
There is one caveat. I’m talking about wines of place rather than industrial wines. And one of the most important things you learn in your wine journey is the difference between the two.
The way to do that of course is by tasting. Starting with what you like, then through discussion of which wines are interesting and which aren’t.
And why.
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