CORKAGE

Yesterday Gary Vaynerchuk , of Wine Library TV , was in the Eat Drink or Die office and we shot several short videos of him dispensing his wine humor and wisdom.  He brought an assorted case of wine so he could riff on topics inspired by the wines.  Beautifully, the case had selections from all over the world and I got a chance to taste a lot of new things.  As you know, trying new things is my wine goal these days.  I'm dying to get out my "wine box" which has consisted of red Bordeaux, red and white Burgundy, California chard (occasionally) and California Pinot.  These have represented 90 percent of my wine drinking over the past few years -- until a few months ago. 

The wines Gary brought were definitely an education.  Some I loved, some I didn't.  Some I understood immediately, some I didn't.  After Gary left, I retasted (and/or drank ) many of them so I could write about them.  I'm not used to drinking 12 wines in an afternoon, so I needed my co-workers to help me out.  I made them taste, ponder and try to attach some words.  I took notes.  Then I let the wines sit out overnight and retasted (and/or drank ) a few this morning, especially my favorites, and the ones I couldn't quite get a handle on last night. 

I'm sure I'll write about many of these wines over the next few days and weeks, but let's start with a general thought about tasting wine which came up in one of Gary's videos.  Gary framed it as a request to the "average wine drinker" out there:  just try ... a little bit .

Try a little bit means: 1) swirl the wine around in your glass and then spend some time smelling the wine before you start drinking; 2) swish the wine around your mouth before you swallow it; and 3) stop and think about the wine, analytically , for just a few seconds. 

Why does Gary recommend this?  Because, over time, it will radically increase your enjoyment of wine. 

I would add: it will also increase my enjoyment of sitting down to a meal with you.  I can't tell you how much I love it when the person sitting across from me spends a fair amount of time oohing and ahing over the wine (and the food).  To me it doesn't detract from the "conversation", it punctuates the conversation and brings it to higher levels. 

Sometimes -- and I love these times -- the food and the wine IS the conversation, and pretty much the WHOLE conversation.  I know some people can't get it into this, they think it's too weird, they don't think there's much more to say than "Mmm, that's good."  But, just as a random example, if you're going to drink a really, really great wine, oh let's say a La Tache, or a Lafite, or a Beaucastel, you don't want the person sitting across from you to talk about much else . 

Fine, that's an extreme example, I'm getting carried away, I'm in fantasy land, let's come back to reality. 

Just try a little bit .  Swirl, smell, swish, think.  We'll all be happier.