Enjoying wine with simplicity does not have to be oxymoronic
A few years back I bought an abandoned winery in Italy and I began a project that would allow me to follow it while living around the world. Wine for a while was the only thing that I really enjoyed, and it was the perfect complements to late night chats or afternoon catch-ups, and I figured I should dedicate a bit more time to my passion.
With time, however, it became more of a job and less of an enjoyment and now, sometimes, I forget to enjoy my drinks, I get stuck in that rabbit hole of the technicalities of wine and I fail to enjoy the moment. Luckily there is always someone that is able to make me return to my senses and reminds me that the essence of wine is found in its enjoyment rather than in the pretentious ability to dissect it and look for any possible fault. And this time, surprisingly, was a simple post on Fb that reminded me of that. A simple reply to a post demanding for the perfect match to Pouilly-Fuisse’ Louis Jadot 2009.
I follow few online wine forums and groups to keep up with trends, opinions of other professionals and passionate and sometimes to confront my opinion with one of the other sommeliers. It is good to confront yourself, find agreement and at times even find disagreements with the opinion of others and keep expanding both your palate and your knowledge of an industry like the wine industry.
There are forums where only natural wines can be discussed, and anything that does not obey the strictest rule of ‘zero-intervention’ is publicly shamed as an abomination going against nature. ‘Cloudy’, ‘savoury’, ‘funky’ and ‘genuine uplifting acidity’ are the arrows in the quiver of the followers of this movement, and anything that appears clear on the glass and too elegant to the nose surely does not belong to this cult. The members of those forums are normally in their 20s’ and 30s’, they thrive on independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. But most importantly, they drink differently and they demand wines that are not conforming to the standard of conventional wine-making.
There is another group I follow baptized ‘Sommeliers’ to convey apprehension and misery to anyone that does not have a palate and a nose able to pick a wine in a blind tasting. It is frequented by wine professional or expert with deep pockets, they drink more sophisticated and conventional wines, and most of their post will include tasting notes, opinion and often matching suggestion. And among the matching, you would find the most absurd suggestions. Not for pairing, cause I am sure it will work perfectly, rather for the absurdity of the receipts suggested to match with the wine. I never even heard some of the ingredients in some of the suggested matching.
Anyhow. The other day someone posted a picture of a bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse’ Louis Jadot 2009. It is a good Chardonnay coming from the southernmost tip of Burgundy, from a producer that is well known and produces consistently good wines. I kind of have a soft spot for wines from that area, but that is a different story altogether. On the post, the author explicitly asked for matching suggestions.
Boy, oh boy. That was the beginning of the end.
Some were quick to scream “lobster !”, others suggested “home-made goat cheese and aromatic herbs raviolini” or “soft cheeses” and “foie gras”, but my favourite matching suggestion was “con il piu’ grande amico…” which translates to something like “with your biggest friend”, “with your best friend”.
My quick response was here we go, the idiot of the village that does not understand anything about wine pretends to be funny. Could I be any more wrong? He works as a Sommelier for nothing less than Gordon Ramsay in one of his London’s restaurant.
He simply did not forget why I initially fell in love with wine and he has been able to cut it down to the core of why we drink wine and why we enjoy so much those moments, because they are shared with the people we cherish and love and most importantly, cause they are the perfect social lubricant to share with people that share this passion for wine.
Some of the most remarkable drops I have ever tried were with some of the producers in their cellars, sharing their passion and their stories while I was with some friends that had the same passion. That ability to forget pretentiousness and relax with wine simply improving the moments that are already perfect.
After all, some of the most remarkable wine I had are memories of those wines I shared with friends… my first Burgundy, my first wow moment, the first time you this is amazing and I cannot stop giggling and drinking.
Irreverently, another member, another sommelier that has fully grasped the essence of wine, reiterates:
“The pointless vexation of sommelier… matching the wine, it is a Pouilly Fuisse… It is made to be drunk, period!! Regardless… even on its own if that is the case, enjoy the wine without any flamboyant and too often inaccurate “matching suggestion”, a term too often inaccurate and abused. Enjoy life and have a good wine to you all !!”
Maybe that is what it takes to enjoy a great wine, a good company and little else… slowly I need to reconnect to my vineyard and forget the small nuances in the glass but worry more about the company I am sharing my experiences and wine with.
Michele Percivati, Follow us at 2makewine.com
