Wine self-doubt

Around the holidays and other special occasions, many of us delve into our collections of special bottles of wine to share with friends and family. It is, in short, that time of year when we not only want to treat ourselves but those close to us with a bottle that is meaningful and one we recall as being especially good. Sometimes, though, we may find the wine to be lacking when we taste it - it is just not the wine we remember so vividly. We start to think, "What was I thinking? This is not so good."

While this self-doubt about past wine choices that excited us so much is normal, there may also be some real changes that have happened along the way to change our perception of a wine. First thing to do is eliminate any wine flaws from the list of possibilities. Is the wine corked? Is there volatile acidity, or VA, present? Could there be significant bottle variation? These issues, while very real, can be difficult to pin down.

The best way to find out is if you have a second bottle of your prized wine, open it and see if it smells and tastes the same. If it is closer to your memory of the wine, chances are you have a bad bottle on your hands, which should be returned to the winery or wine shop where you purchased it. Opening a second, identical bottle on its own, though, is hard to do. Many times when we have had a flawed bottle, it is challenging for us to go back and try another of the same on the spot. For us, our self-doubt is in full swing!

The help of your favorite wine professional here is important. If you bring the bottle to our shop or the shop where you purchased it, chances are we will be able to quickly identify a flaw in that bottle. Beyond fixing the problem, this objective, professional opinion will help restore your wine confidence.

It is also vital to recognize that wine is indeed an organic product. It changes as it spends time in the bottle, and will move in and out of phases where it tastes better than other times. While all varietals change over time, Syrah is perhaps the most notorious varietal for moving in and out of good and bad phases. When we worked at wineries prior to opening the store, we would find Syrah from multiple producers that changed so much each time we tried them that we frequently questioned our own judgment.

For any grape varietal, though, from nearly every producer we have ever sampled, wine changes all the time. So, when you open one of your past favorites that does not quite measure up, give it another chance in a month or two and see if it hasn't returned to its previous form.

Another possibility is that we, as wine drinkers, have changed. Palates evolve, and what we liked in the past may not be what we would choose today, sentimentality aside. In our own wine-drinking experience as wine professionals we try hundreds of wines throughout the year, evaluating each one. Before we ever put it on our shelves, we will go back and retry one we previously liked and find it underwhelming. It could simply be that our palates have moved beyond those selections, but like with food and fashion, wine too will likely return to appreciated status as our palate swings back around to a varietal or style. If you really have moved on from a particular varietal or style, like many of us do, it may be tough to recapture that same passion for a past favorite.

Knowing what we like and don't like in wine is still the most important part of the wine experience, and most times our favorites will remain our favorites and meet all expectations. When a bottle does not measure up to our memory, especially for those most prized selections, self-doubt on our choices will creep in. It is natural. Accounting for all the other possibilities, though, will help us feel good about our past choices and allow us to retry additional bottles of our favorites that will, in most cases, return those prized bottles to the top of our list!

If there is a topic you would like to read about or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George is also the managing judge of The North Idaho Wine Rodeo and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene Magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.