One of the things the Wine Curmudgeon likes to do when tasting wine, assuming I can't taste it blind, is to taste it without knowing how much it costs. That way, I won't pre-judge it based on price, something that works too ways. If I know a wine is expensive, I expect a lot -- sometimes too much. And if I know a wine is cheap, I don't expect too much -- sometimes not enough.
So, for a recent weekday dinner, I pulled the Freestone ($55, sample) out of the wine closet. All I knew, because it was was from Freestone, was that it was more than $20 or $30. And it is a well-made wine, subtle and sophisticated and elegant, with cherry fruit and balanced acid. It was a welcome relief in this age of tannic, alcoholic and unbalanced pinots that are made to get high scores and not necessarily to be pinot.
But it was $55. Wow. Is that what pinot has come to, when it costs that much money for a quality bottle of wine?
Comments