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Wednesday’s Meritage: Happy Independence Day!
First and foremost: Happy July 4th! It feels a bit strange when the holiday falls in a middle of the week, but still it is a nice break.
Now, here is the answer for the Wine Quiz #18 – Wine and Independence Day. It was great to see a variety of opinions, but the right answer is…Madeira! Now almost forgotten (but seemingly coming back, little by little) Madeira was the wine used to toast Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. The great thing about Madeira is that it was made to easily withstand a sea voyage in the barrel, were the other wines would arrive in totally insipid condition. If you want to read a bit more about Madeira, here is the link for you. And I would actually recommend to take it further – if you haven’t had Madeira recently, find a good bottle (forget the cooking stuff, please, get the real thing) – you might discover something you will really like.
For the news updates, I have a few things for you. First, for the “local” news, I finally updated my blogroll to add all the blogs I mentioned in my recent post.
I also want to bring to your attention a special “wine day” holiday. It is not even a day – it is a month-long holiday! In one of his recent posts, NJVinoman mentioned that we need more wine holidays – so his wish is granted – July is The 31 Days Of German Riesling! Now you have 31 days to celebrate the light, refreshing and versatile wine, perfectly complementing any hot summer day.
Last but not least – in addition to The Generous Pour program I mentioned in the last news update, The Capital Grille announced the return of their $18 “Plates” lunch menu for the summer. Well, there is a fine print there – you should check if you local Capital Grille is actually participating in the program – you will find the list of location at the bottom of the link I just shared. But if your Capital Grille is listed – don’t miss it!
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. Let me know what you are going to open to celebrate July 4th (Madeira, may be?). Happy Independence Day! Cheers!
And I’m Still Wrong
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?
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