VintageTweets: Yes, sommeliers make New Year’s wine resolutions!
CT Somm: Sommelier Roundtable: Your Wine Resolutions for 2018. My RT: “Sommelier Roundtable: Your #Wine #NewYears #Resolutions for 2018 | #Sommelier Talk | News & Features”
I have to admit, when I first read this, my mind raced back in time to one of my fave reads: “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” It’s a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth’s life has been greatly damaged by nuclear global war. While many of you likely have not read it, you have very likely seen the movie that was based on (if only loosely) on this book – Blade Runner or its recent follow sequel released in 2017.
Why shouldn’t wine specialists anticipate (and perhaps even dream) of theie wine experiences the new year, and then make their resolutions accordingly. One resolution that I wish more Texas-based Sommeliers would make is: Taste, experience and drink more Texas wines. Texas is a very large state… in fact, even larger than the country of France. Due our state’s large size, we have many eco-regions, climate types and soil types that support a large variety of wine grape varieties. Some varieties have proven to grow very well here, and also make internationally award winning wines. Too many times, I’ve asked a very well-regarded Texas sommelier…”What Texas wines have you actually tasted or drunk with a meal?” Unfortunately, the answer is usually…”I don’t drink Texas wine”.
Well, things have changed handedly since the days when Texas winemakers of the 1980s and early 1990s were trying to be “me-to” Napa or Bordeaux winemakers with grapes that were honestly inferior to those in their home turf and a lot of them had limited technical training. Viticulture and related sciences have progressed in the past 15 to 20 years to yield higher quality Texas grapes and enology techniques have improved the quality of Texas wines. Now, I’ll be honest… not all Texas wines are up to snuff, but far more are than ever before.
My New Years resolution is to encourage more Texas sommeliers to be brave and try and experience Texas wines. I hope that they will add this to their New Years wine resolutions list, as well.
More details at:
Be the first to comment