Truth is, you shouldn’t. In fact you really shouldn’t care much about what anyone else thinks of what any given wine or food item tastes like – other than yourself! This seems to be self evident when it comes to things we are confident about. For instance – if you like ketchup, no matter how many fancy fine-dining chefs tell you that you don’t need ketchup on your steak – you are going to slather it on. And why shouldn’t you? Same thing is true for wine – but because people aren’t really confident about their knowledge of wine, they often look to others to tell them what to like.

The other reason people look to others for opinions is to avoid making a mistake prior to purchase. Everyone has a finite amount of money to spend on any given item – as wine is a relatively expensive beverage – people look to others who might have tasted the wine already for an opinion before taking the plunge. I get it. I do it too. But it’s no different than an opinion about anything else!  I cannot understand why people hold wine-scores as absolutes or believe that critics (of any sort) are somehow objective. Whether you are talking about a wine critic, a food critic or a movie critic – there are always divergent opinions based on personal preference. Growing up, there was a  movie review show called At the Movies . It was hosted by 2 movie critics – Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert, each a respected film critic for a competing Chicago paper. What made Siskel and Ebert show so important was that it took for granted that there are going to be differing views of the movie that is being critiqued. They OFTEN came to differing conclusions about the very same film and would disagree publicly and passionately.  Who was right? Both of  them and neither of them – it  was totally subjective as all reviews are. The idea that there is a wine reviewer who is giving you an objective final score on a bottle of wine – with  no context is CRAP! With Siskel & Ebert,  after watching their show  for a number of years and reading their full reviews in print, it became clear to me that my tastes closely matched those of Ebert rather than Siskel – and so, when deciding which movie to see on a Saturday night, Ebert was the reviewer I sought out and trusted. That’s not to say that Siskel was wrong  – but for me Ebert was right! With wine, just because Wine Enthusiast magazine gives a given wine a 92 does not mean that you are going to like it! Find someone or a group of people you trust who have similar tastes  – be they professional or amateur  – and use them as a guide until you have time to taste the wine for yourself and form your own opinion.

All of this brings me to the reason I am writing this blog – more of that in a separate post – but its for myself – my opinion  – which matters only to me. It’s not the “right” opinion – it’s just mine. If you find over the course of a number of posts that your tastes match mine – feel free to follow. Also – feel free to disagree! Your opinion is no less important than mine – and in fact when it comes to wine that YOU like, your opinion is far MORE important.

Happy Drinking!

A.