For The Love Of Port

Kramer launches a great one. Best wine article I've read in Feb. so far!

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/46349

Do you agree with the 3 selected? Do you have one of your own to add?

Comments?

I basically have to agree with all three points.

I think #1 is a distortion - I've never heard that "lie" phrased that way before. What I've always heard is, "all that matters is if you like it." Liking a wine doesn't mean it is good. Not liking a wine doesn't mean it is bad.

The real problem is that Kramer's audience and the target of the 3 "lies" aren't the same. Those 3 "lies" are aimed at mass market consumers to take some of the mystery and complexity out of hoity-toity wine consumerism. They're designed to make drinking wine easier for the average person. Kramer's audience isn't mass market - he's preaching to the choir.

If those 3 "lies" manage to pull in a few more people from the mass market, then those people will eventually learn that the "lies" were really just simplifications and that the real story is much more complex. But by that point they'll be hooked and the lies will have accomplished their purpose.

Glenn E. wrote:I think #1 is a distortion - I've never heard that "lie" phrased that way before. What I've always heard is, "all that matters is if you like it." Liking a wine doesn't mean it is good. Not liking a wine doesn't mean it is bad.

Agreed - and regardless of whether something is good or not, if you are drinking for your personal pleasure, with or without food, there's not a huge amount of point in spending huge amounts of money on wines you don't like, regardless of who tells you it is a "good wine"! (For me, Cornas springs to mind!)

Not to say you shouldn't try new things, or experiment with old things that you once didn't like, of course.

Well put, Rob!

I agree on #2 and #3, but not so much on #1. "Good" is a subjective and relative term. If you just put a glass of wine in front of me and asked me if it was good, should I not be able to answer? In this context, good is up to me to decide. Do I like it? Does it taste like wine? Is it infected or spoiled? I should be able to give you some sort of answer. Now if you told me that it was a California Cab, my answer might change. Sure, it was good wine, but it really doesn't have what I think a Cali Cab should be. It isn't good judged against that standard, and my new expectations.