I sort of stumbled into this whole wine thing, even though I spent my 8-12 grade years in Germany and we traveled through a LOT of wine country while there.
My main interest in wine was Black Cat, Liebfraumilch, and Chianti in a straw-covered bottle, all of which was consumed while skipping school (VERY rarely!!), because we usually drank beer. (again, VERY rarely!!)
I'm still mainly a beer and whiskey guy at heart, but around 1995, while working at a restaurant with an extensive wine list (the Rainbow Lodge), I became intrigued by wine under the tutelage of Paul Roberts, the wine director. (Paul went on to become a Master Sommelier, and is now the wine director at the French Laundry in Napa and Per Se in NY, among others.)
Paul was also the wine buyer for a fine wine shop (Houston Wine Merchant) and I started working with him at HWM in the afternoons and at RBL in the evenings.
When Paul decided to leave HWM to hone his service skills at Cafe Annie (a renowned Houston restaurant), he suggested to the owner that I was the best choice to replace him. (Not that I had his knowledge, but that I had good "people skills" and I could always learn about wine!)
So I quit my night job and started working full time at HWM, slowly taking on more and more buying responsibilities.
As a buyer, I was invited to wine tastings with other industry professionals.
It was at these tastings that I learned that I had an exceptional palate, because I'd come to taste a bottle that was half gone (tasted by professionals) and I'd determine that the wine was flawed (Corked, cooked, or something else) while no one before me had noticed.
This gave me the confidence to value my own opinion, and as a result, I gained customers who valued my suggestions.
Once I learned to trust my own opinion, I was able to make some extremely wise purchases for HWM.
I started to travel to Napa to seek out new wineries, and have been responsible for getting some terrific wineries to Houston.
Kelham-MacClean - I worked closely with this winery to get them into Texas. Craig MacLean has since left, and makes wine for Juslyn Vineyards, among others (I think he has a GREAT touch with sauvignon Blanc). Now the winery is just called Kelham, and they haven't taken off yet (I don't know why), but sometime soon they're sure to get the terrific press they deserve.
Darioush - I tasted, and loved their signature Cabernet (and they make perhaps the best Viognier in the U.S.) and featured it in the HWM newsletter. When it sold out before the run of the newsletter I contacted the winery to get an additional 50 cases (I figured that would last us until the next vintage arrived). Shortly after that, the Wine Spectator reviewed this wine, giving it 94 points, and including it on their annual list of top 100 wines . We sold out before Christmas, but my customers had plenty and the winery started sending customers to us!
L'Aventure - Typically, the wineries send a representative into each area to show their new wine around town so that buyers will know what to buy. On one such visit, I was blown away by the entire line, stocked up, and featured them in our newsletter. A few months later Robert Parker reviewed the wines and gave them outstanding scores, and many of our competitors were out of luck because once the reviews hit, it was sold out. Fortunately for my customers, they already had some in their cellars and because I'd stocked up they were able to buy even more once they saw the reviews.
Gargiulo - This is another winery that I liked so much, I worked with them to get 'em here in Houston. I alerted my customers that this winery made phenomenal wine (including a smokin' rose) and advised them to stock up.
Over a year later someone at Food and Wine magazine found out about them a called them one of the top 50 wineries
in the world to watch.
I could go on about different wineries that I've come across and been able to share with my customers and friends, but I'm just trying to back up my claims that I have a good palate, and I think that the previous mentions will suffice.
What it really all comes down to is that every review you read, whether by me or some major publication is just
someone else's opinion!If you must depend on someone else to tell you what's good, then find a reviewer who tastes wines that you can afford to buy, go out and buy your own bottle, and compare your experience with the reviewer's. If after a few comparisons you find that you agree with the reviewer, then you can probably safely buy their recommendations. Otherwise, find another reviewer.
And one last thing about the way I review wine.
When I first started off as a wine buyer, the boss told me "never buy wine the day you taste it". (Incidentally, I no longer adhere to that)
So as a result, the salespeople would come by a week or so later (and hundreds of wine tastes later) and ask me if I wanted to buy their wine yet. I'd go back and look at my notes and find a glowing review of how much I enjoyed it. Then they'd tell me that the wholesale cost was $70 and I'd find myself asking "did I like it THAT much?"
This created such a dilemma for me that I came up with my own ranking system. (Forget that 100 point scale!)
Now when I taste wine I ask myself "what's the
most I'd be
happy to pay for this wine?"...and I include that in my review.
Then, when I find out the price, I can easily decide whether or not I should recommend the wine to my friends.
That goes for a $4 or a $100 wine. (...and I find VERY few wines that I think are worth $100!)
Having said that, I try to impart to all my friends, customers and seminar attendees that no one can tell you what YOU like, and what you like may be different from everyone else at the table. So don't be embarrassed because you like a wine that was rated 72 points. Oftentimes the reviewers get it wrong! Drink what you like and don't let the wine snobs bully you!
Cheers!
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