A New Breed Of Wine Enthusiast

A New Breed Of Wine Enthusiast

A New Breed Of Wine Enthusiast

There are a few definitions of wine enthusiasts, & most would consider you a wine enthusiast if you go to lots of wine tasting events such as the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival and World of Pinot. There are many more events in wine regions all over the world. At these events, wine enthusiasts can go to taste the new offerings of both domestic and foreign wineries.

Do you remember the episode of Taxi where Father Jim takes a hit off a joint and says, Columbian, Indica strain, South side of the mountains, picked in October, in the morning? Now that wasn’t wine tasting but there are wine enthusiasts that can tell you the strain of grape, the area it was produced in and in some cases, the specific vineyard.

Imagine my Surprise

Before my wine enthusiast stage, I pictured wine tasting as a gathering of stuffy looking men with mustaches who would look at and smell the wine, take a sip and spit it out. I thought it was all quite stuffy and high-brow, something akin to polo. Another view of the wine enthusiast was the one portrayed in TV and movies, that of the cork-smelling, glass ‘swirlers’ with a superiority attitude. I remember my wife asking me to go to a winery for a tasting. I relented after a few words and resigned myself to the fact that I was going to “taste” wine. Happily, I went and discovered the joy of wine tasting. I had no idea it would be that much fun. My God, they werenít all stuffy. Most of them were good people who had a love of wine in common.

Hors d'oeuvreA Changing of the Times

In the past, the public generally took their wine choices from so-called wine experts. That has changed because of more wine tasting opportunities and the fact that most community education programs include wine education classes. This has taught the general public to judge the wine on its own merits, after all each person has individual taste.

Here Taste This

There are lots of conversations that go on while wine tasting. Wine enthusiasts are generally very social animals who love nothing better than to discuss the merits of the favorite wine of the day. They take great joy in introducing new offerings to complete strangers within the wine tasting room. They discuss different vineyards and wineries. The may steadfastly claim their love for a certain blend but they are open to at least trying new wines. Back in the day, wine enthusiasts were depicted as unrelenting about trying new blends.

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