Good Drinking

Good Drinking

By Codey Foster

In a recent wine review I wrote that “In regards to my own personal taste, I find more and more that there are distinct lines between ‘what I like’, ‘what I think is good/well made’, and ‘what makes me think’. And although wines often span the gaps and overlap the space between these three realms—more often than not I’d prefer to drink a wine that makes me think even if I don’t consider it a great wine.”

This is something that I wanted to elaborate on because I think its one of those things that at least somewhat applies to everyone’s drinking experiences but is hardly ever discussed. Often times I find myself trying to break my wine experiences down into the simple terms of like/dislike but it’s hardly that simple. This is old news to most of us, I’m sure, but even us wine geeks are sometimes so poor at communicating how we feel about a wine that we fall into the good/bad, like/dislike trap and the real essence of a wine is lost in translation.

While pondering this, I’ve realized that most of my favorable wine experiences can be described in three different ways, and as I said in the prior post, they can be best categorized as ‘what I like’, ‘what I think is good/well made’, and ‘what makes me think’. I’ll try to make this black and white for you.

‘What I like’—These are wines that just taste good, are a pleasure to drink, and have me wanting to polish off the whole bottle. These are the wines that I indulge in, treat myself to, and savor. I appreciate them simply for their flavor profile and/or texture. The pleasure is on the palate and that pleasure is physical and tangible.

‘What I think is good/well made’—These are wines that I appreciate for their intent, execution, and composition. They are classy, stylistic, unflawed, and balanced. Compared to ‘what I like’ I’d be more apt to describe these wines as ‘beautiful’ rather than ‘delicious’, although I have encountered many wines that are both ‘what I like’ and ‘what I think is good/well made’. There’s huge overlap here, although, I insist they are in fact quite different.

‘What makes me think’—This is the most subjective of favorable outcomes I’ve experienced and probably the least common. It’s self explanatory, more or less. A wine can make you think, ignite conversation, and in extraordinary cases, leave you puzzled for weeks on end. In contrast, and more often than not, you will drink it and forget it. The kicker here is that both a well-made wine, and a poorly made wine can make you think. And both can be pleasurable. This pleasure however, is more cerebral than physical/tangible, and often lasts for a greater period of time. This is why I bother to taste new wines. I’ve got my standby go-to wines—and while they give me pleasure, taste good, and make me think—it’s mostly the experiences with wines that I’ve never tasted before that I find myself enthralled by. And that’s the greatest thrill I’ve encountered in all of my wine tasting career.