The Southwest Voice

"What wine should I buy?"

I often get asked for suggestions as to what wines to buy. I'm flattered, but wary. That's only an easy question if you and I are standing in front of two or three different bottles on the shelf in the store or wine shop, and you want to know my preference. It's easy if I know something about the winery and the wine, and impossible to answer if I've never heard of the winery or tasted the wine.

That's not an uncommon occurrence. There are literally thousands of different wineries, and many, many of them are on the shelves here in Bakersfield. I run across new (to me) names all the time. No one could possibly taste them all, so how do I answer that question? 

I spent several hours this past weekend making out a list for a friend who had asked for some suggestions. I'm ready to share the process with you, so here goes....

What do you want the wine for? Tonight's dinner? A special occasion? What's the menu? Are you stocking your cellar? Do you want some suggestions for wines to take to a Cabernet tasting? A really special gift for a wine aficionado?

I need to know something about you. What kind of wine do you like? How often do you drink wine? The more I know about your tastes, the better chance I have of suggesting something appropriate.

How much do you want to spend?   really important question. Choose one: under $10? Around $20? Don't go over $50 please. $100.00 –– are you kidding?! And those are price ranges per bottle, not per case! 

An aside: There are a number of $100 bottles of wine for sale in this town and they have buyers! The average price of the 65 Cabernets rated the best last year by the wine "experts" of Wine Spectator magazine was $104. Excellent wine is not cheap.

But there are good to very good bottles of wine at all price ranges. How do I go about finding them? I read. Wine magazines, wine articles, books, small news items –– all are fair game for fodder for my lists. I've dubbed these lists my "Scouting Reports." I make notes of the ratings that certain wine writers publish. I have my favorites, and over 30-plus years of reading their recommendations has given me confidence in their judgment and pronouncements. Wine writers and judges are really like you and me –– they like what they like!  And after tasting a wine any one of them has recommended highly, you can judge for yourself whether he has a palate similar to your own or not. You'll find out whom you want to trust.

After years of tracking these writers, I can tell you that much more often than not, the wines they are reviewing get pretty similar scores. Really good wines are recognizable and viewed by most everyone as such!

I use my scouting reports to decide in advance of any big tasting which wines I will try at that event. I'll go "armed" with a list of 20 wines I want to try, take a swallow or two of each, and make my decision of what to buy based on my own judgment. But at least I know where to start when faced with the wines from 150 or more wineries!

I imagine some of you will be interested in what writers/judges I regularly rely on for information. My favorites are Robert Parker, the "Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine,"  Wine Spectator, and Pinot Report. I read most all wine publications however, but the aforementioned are actually tracked and compared by me regularly. I have developed a good (for me) sense of their wine ratings. You can do the same for yourself over time, and that will help you in deciding what to buy.

Now, for those of you chafing to know my answer to my friend's request for a list of recent wines to buy, it was two pages long, contained 15 Cabernet Sauvignons,  15 Chardonnays, two Merlots, two Petite Sirahs, 12 Pinot Noirs, three Rieslings, five Sauvignon Blancs, five Sparkling Wines, seven Syrahs, one Viognier, and 15 Zinfandels. All were under $50 and ranged from a $48 Landmark Pinot Noir to a $9 Hogue Riesling. The Zinfandels as a group were the least expensive. BIG hint for the day ––  Zinfandels are your best bang for the buck! I'll have to tell you more about that soon! I cannot, of course, guarantee that all of the wines on the list are still available in town, but a lot of them should be. Several suggestions are what you always need when buying wine to help you find the best bottle available that day.

Ask your favorite wine shop clerk for his recommendations, too. Learn whose palate is most like your own. Please tell him something about your own likes and dislikes, and be sure to give him a price range! Also, please notice that a lot of wine shelves have notes above many of the wines that will indicate the ratings (or scores) given the wine by prominent writers. If you start to use these, you will also learn what, and whom, to look for in the future.

Questions? e-mail: acierley@etcrier.net