Archgrove - Implicit Definition

Well, fortified wine, but pale cream Sherry is today’s tipple of choice. Vastly sweeter than I’d normally drink, it’s light enough to forms an excellent alternative for evening drinking. People often think it’s much stronger than most wines, but the reds I tend to drink weigh in at around 14% volume and this is only 17.5%. It’s a much slower glass on top of that.

The NYT’s Freakonomics pointed me at something I think we’ve all suspected for years - Expensive wine is only worth it if you’ve either trained a highly educated palette (and we’re talking lots of practice here), or you’re one of those people who just like’s pouring money into glasses so other people can see your glasses full of cash.

I don’t buy the highly expensive bottles (I’n not that rich, nor that trained), but when other people have been kind enough (or when I’ve drunk too many cheaper glasses and am in a suitable bar), I have indulged and come to the same conclusions. But I’ll add a corollary - on average, very cheap wines can be hit and mostly miss, especially in the realm of red. The value curve has it’s peak at about, for me, £10 to £15 a bottle.

Now, I certainly don’t think you can’t get decent wines for less (I have, do, and continue to), nor that every “mid price” bottle is better (some are dross). Just that if you do your research, that price point has the widest selection of bottles that taste well above their price range, without seeming ostentatious.

Note that I’m talking about wines bought from a store, not a restaurant. Wine by the bottle with a meal starts at about that range (and normally they’d have paid about a tenth of that for it).

Tonight’s wine: A 2006 Mendoza (Argentinean) Cabernet Sauvignon, “La Flor” from De Pulenta. One of a set of staple evening reds I’ve used this year for when I want wine without food, it stands alone very well. A touch acidic, but with good fruitiness (a tannic strawberry to my mouth, but I’ve never been a big fan of the “Hint of wild raspberries on a wet spring morning” descriptions). Has a sweet nuttiness, and works well in small doses - a solid slow evening glass.

Today’s wine: A 2006 Rosemount (Australian) Pinot Noir. Picked up from the supermarket with dinner when I forgot to go to the wine merchant, and regretted; have had some 2006 Shiraz from the same estate in the past and found it excellent for the price point. This, costing circa £8.00, has no depth whatsoever, is overly acidic, and has no fruit tones that I can detect. Disappointing - should have bought red food dye, vinegar and water.