Talk-A-Vino

I wanted to share an interesting encounter I had on twitter few days ago. Commenting on someone’s tweet, I mentioned that I’m not a fan of one particular (quite famous) California wine, and that I would prefer a number of other California wines on any given day over that particular wine. My reason was very simple – I visited that winery a few years ago, and while I had certain [high] expectations (well, it is a problem in itself), to my demise I was unable to find a single wine that I liked. To tell you more, I was planning to get there a bottle to bring to friend’s house for dinner that night, and again I was unable to find the right bottle.

Next, someone noticed my tweet and replied to it saying that all I have to do is to visit that winery to see for myself that wines are perfect, and provided me with an address. I replied that I speak about the wines from experience, been there, tried the wine and still didn’t like it, but I also mentioned that it is okay to be different. The “dialog” didn’t stop there, as I got new response from the same person, telling me that he also speaks from experience, finishing sentence with “sorry but you are still wrong”.

So this brings up some questions, albeit mostly rhetorical. Are taste “impressions ” universal? Do I have to like something only because someone else liked it already? If I don’t like the wine Robert Parker is raving about, does it mean that I have to stop drinking wine, stop talking about wine or both?

I’m  not going to share any details on the winery or regarding the person I had this enchanting dialog with (by the way, I didn’t know this person and don’t follow  him on twitter). But I’m curious about your take on this situation – can people express their honest opinion, or do we have to share positive stuff only? And can I please keep my personal tastes and preferences, even if I’m still wrong?