Last night, I opened a wine that I have had at least a half dozen times and this bottle was just meh. I realized as this is a relatively new producer to me that if I had tried this bottle first I would likely have never bought more. Likewise a number of years ago I bought a mixed case from a winery that I had never tried. The price was good and the winery has a lot of supporters on this board so it seemed low risk. I drank through a number of them never found the joy and assumed these were just not my style although by all accounts they should be. Tried one again recently and loved it. And there are other examples that I could share where my first (or second and third) lead me the wrong direction. I don’t really know how to address this except to buy from new producers in minimums of 2-3 bottles which is what I do if the wine is priced modestly but isn’t an option in all cases.
The alternative is to buy tried and true producers. I’ve never understood the desire to buy wines in quantity that one has never tasted and which have no track record. A bottle or two, sure. But more? Seems crazy to me.
Seems like a pointless exercise as there are so many wineries and wines on earth that you could try 1 a day and never try them all in your lifetime. If you have a meh wine, move on, and if at some point you come back to it thru friends or tastings and that meh turns into love, congratulations. Otherwise you are just living a life of FOMO…life is too short for that with wine.
Well, the 1st impression is indeed of value … but it can also be misleading when
- the wine is flawed (corked, cooked etc.) but not obviously so
- the wine is too young (tannic, closed) and you have not enough experience to notice it - so you are disapointed
- the wine developes differently from what you thought
Also ones taste can change over time