Finding a good wine...

Some wines really taste great... some are okay... some are awful. Not everyone who makes wine does a good job of it and many must be in it for the money only because the quality is 'just enough to pass for wine but a nice ice tea would probably have more depth and complexity than these pretenders.

Conversely, some wines are a complete experience themselves.... these wines hit the taste buds and don't go away... and you really don't want them to. The wines are so delicious that you want to keep drinking... caution - intoxication on the way... it's still alcohol. But getting buzzed is merely a side effect to a really great bottle and, hopefully, some cool conversations with a fellow wine-lover.

Both of the above are somewhat rare - at least in my price range.... I don't buy $4 bottles of wine since a really great micro brew is a much better buy. Where most wines fall for me - in every price range - is that drinking them is a very subjective experience. It depends so much on what you've had to eat - that day or, even the day before - or what else you've had to drink.... do you have a cold (stuffy noses affect taste buds, dude - or dudette)... or maybe you're just looking for a particular flavor and the wine you open either matches that expectation or doesn't. This is not reflective on the quality of the wine but merely the situation.

When I first got into wine, I figured that the more I spent, the better the wine. Then, more recently, I started looking at the wine ratings from the vino rags, choosing the higher rated wines - a little better than just looking at price. Both of these assumptions are not grounded in experience but consumer gullibility. Even though, often, I find myself in agreement with the wine ratings, it comes back to the moment - because, when you drink the wine, that's the moment that the ratings count - not the ratings from the magazine or website, but YOUR ratings!

Bottom line, if you like the wine, then for you it's a good wine. Enjoy, drink up... don't drive... and be adventurous!

Cheers!