JJ Buckley Fine Wines Blog

People pouring in tasting rooms usually offer wine descriptions as they pour, before you drink. Are they doing the right thing?

It happens to all of us. We taste something at a winery, or perhaps a restaurant, and love the wine. So, we buy a bottle (or several). But later, when we open it up, the wine isn’t the way we remember. The magic isn’t there. Why?

A couple of years ago, social media was all a-twitter about a picture of a dress. People couldn't agree on the color. How can people look at something so apparently obvious and reach such different conclusions? There is a parallel with tasting wine.

With the quickest of glances, we know if the vehicle ahead of us is a sports car or a sedan, a pickup or hatchback. When we hear a siren, we instinctively know whether or not it’s a police car, a fire truck or an ambulance. Why then, is it so hard to identify what we smell in a glass of wine? There are three primary reasons: the way our brain works, our vocabulary and the complexity of wine.

Not surprisingly our trip to Bordeaux is not ALL about the wine: this is France after all. During the day, our entire focus is on tasting wine (upwards of 100 today alone). But once the sun sets, we get treated to some of the greatest food in the world.