Have you heard wine drinkers say "I only drink heavy full-bodied red wines", or, "I only like to drink wines with a lot of fruit"? There is nothing wrong with having a desired preference for a certain taste or body of wine. However, if these are the only types of wines those "wine aficionados" will only drink then they are missing out on a lot great wines with subtle, interesting flavors and wonderful aromas.



Drinking wines is usually done subjectively; that is, what type of wine do I like and how does it taste. Each of us have this subjective opinion. However, drinking wine should also require an objective opinion; that is, this type of wine is a truly remarkable wine but it is not my preference in taste or body. The objective opinion requires us to step outside the "box", no pun intended,and experience a particular wine that we would not normally gravitate to. By opening ourselves to try other wines will help to expand your sphere of tasting beyond the wines that you are normally accustomed to. By only drinking wines within a narrow range, skews our palate. If we only drink heavy muscular zinfandels then we expect that all red wines are supposed to taste that way. Therefore when we try a pinot noir we would find that wine as thin and weak. Our palates were skewed and the pinot noir could not be enjoyed and evaluated in its appropriate state.



Example, if we only ate pasta with thick and heavy tomato sauce that contains a lot of spices such as oregano, pepper and basil, we would come to expect that all good pasta with sauce should taste this way. Therefore, if we tasted pasta with an alfredo, cream, or pesto sauce we would find that it was not as hearty with flavors as strong as the red sauce. This does not make those pastas not as good as the tomato sauce pastas. Our palates would be skewed so that we would not be able to enjoy and savor the wonderful flavors of those other sauces. The sauces were great but our assessment was skewed and jaded.



So step outside the "box". Enjoy other wines that you are not usually accustomed to drink. If you prefer only reds try a white. WHAT, DID YOU SAY WHITE????? How dare you? I challenge you to try a Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough of New Zealand. If you prefer a real creamy Chardonnay aged in oak try a French Burgundy. WHAT, DID YOU SAY BURGUNDY???? How dare you. Pssst, the secret is that the French Burgundy is not the wine that inexpensive wine that is bottled as "burgundy", it is a Pinot Noir - SURPRISE!!!!



Drink an enjoy.