Five Year Checkup: How have your tastes shifted?

The parallel discussion on "California First Growths" ( one of those perennial discussions on what Bueker called the "wineternet") led me to revive another perennial topic: how have your tastes shifted over the last five years or so?

If they have shifted, that is.

No new territories have emerged for me. If anything, I have consolidated into smaller an smaller territories that I've already explored, and am finally getting to point where I'm not looking for the next great region or the next great style emergence.

And what I'm looking for more than anything else is the iterations...wherever it may come from...of purity and balance and clarity in a wine.

So more than ever I'm dispensing with vast areas that have little or no interest to me, and focusing on certain producers in areas that do. So: Austria, Germany, Northern Italy, and less so but in selected parts of Southern Italy, Slovenia, selected parts of Spain, New Zealand, carefully selected producers from California/Washington, more from Oregon because I live here and there's some interesting things going on. And France, of course, in all her manifold pleasures (surprising or not, more from the Languedoc-Roussillon, again because there are some fascinating things happening there).

Very, very little from Australia. Little from Chile, slightly more from Argentina, Little from Portugal (athough I'd like to remedy that.)

My spirits interests have led me back-----big time----to vermouths and chinatos and aperitif and things bittersweet and herbally driven, and I'm much, much more appreciative of the "orange wines," and not at all afraid of the strange and quirky---but also more aware and more ready to call bullshit on the outrages allowed by such envelope stretching.

[David M. Bueker]

The little "bump on the head" I experienced in 2010 had caused me to explore more fruit forward wines, but as things have returned to normal my tastes have gone right back to where they were - mostly Euro or Euro-styled wines with a few bigger wines thrown in for guilty pleasures.

The big shift for me remains my 2000 or so shift away from zinfandel in all things.

Zinfandel does not feature in my cellar anymore. More Portugal, love the whites I have access to, but prime is Rheingau, Loire Valley and Languedoc. Not much has changed really but would love to have better access to the Jura.

Zinfandel, huh? Curious: has Zinfandel left you or have you left Zinfandel?

That is to say, have you merely gravitated away from Zinfandel, or has Zinfandel changed in its overall stylistic presentation so much you're not interested in that?

I'm not drinking much Zinfandel anymore either, and have to be much more selective; hard to find a Zinfandel I really care for anymore (as I don't like pruny-raisin overripe fat glossiness).

My tastes probably haven't shifted, but almost two years ago, I decided to quit alcohol for 30 days in observance of the Pastafarian Wholey Daze. I had no real intention of going sober, but haven't had a drink since.

I'm drinking more Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast AVA (although I also still purchase Russian River Valley, Oregon and Burgundian Pinots.)
I purchase more rose' and Albarino for summer drinking and less New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc than in the past but still purchase some Sancerre S.B.
I discovered I do like some Chateauneuf du Pape (Vieux Telegraphe, Roger Sabon, some Beaucastel) but not the bretty ones.
Still exploring Spanish and Italian reds but make limited purchases in these areas.
Would buy more Austrian Riesling if 1) It was more available locally; and 2) it were less expensive.
I still buy some Zinfandel from Robert Biale Vineyards, Joseph Swan, Scherrer, etc. but probably less than twelve bottles a year.

So more than ever I'm dispensing with vast areas that have little or no interest to me, and focusing on certain producers in areas that do. So: Austria, Germany, Northern Italy, and less so but in selected parts of Southern Italy, Slovenia, selected parts of Spain, New Zealand, carefully selected producers from California/Washington, more from Oregon because I live here and there's some interesting things going on. And France, of course, in all her manifold pleasures (surprising or not, more from the Languedoc-Roussillon, again because there are some fascinating things happening there).

I guess that may be a narrowing of your tastes from the past, but I don't think you're in danger of becoming too insular just yet!

In my case, not much has changed in the past 5 years. Still focusing on the same basic areas (red Burgundy, Beaujolais, Northern Rhone, Germany, Loire, ESJ) although maybe I've slowed down on the Burgundy exploration because it's just so expensive.

The last 5 years haven't seen much of a change in my tastes, especially in comparison with the sea change that occurred 1999-2004. Of course, there's also the question of whether it's my tastes that have changed or the wines. Nowadays, I buy far less Cabernet and Zinfandel from CA, and less Bordeaux and Chateauneuf from France. On the flip side, I buy far more Burgundy, CA Pinot Noir, CA Syrah, Cru Beaujolais, Loire Cab Franc, white wine (Muscadet, Chenin, Riesling, Chablis, Grüner Veltliner, Albariño and, recently, Pinot Blanc) and rosé. And I continue to expand my horizons, so in the last 5 years I've begun to explore wines from the Jura, Savoie, Galicia, Sicily and Germany outside of the M-S-R.

Mark Lipton

My tastes probably haven't shifted, but almost two years ago, I decided to quit alcohol for 30 days in observance of the Pastafarian Wholey Daze. I had no real intention of going sober, but haven't had a drink since.

I had heard rumblings of that, 'Winger. I will miss your presence at offlines in these parts, unless of course you decide to participate.

Mark Lipton

Germany outside of the M-S-R.

Mark Lipton

Yeah, that's probably the biggest change in my drinking as well.

[Jenise]

No changes here that signal a shift, just dialing further into the places I was already at. That is I was already a mostly-French wine drinker, but I've really started paying attention to Loire whites and Beaujolais. I've also made a more pointed attempt to get more of the wines I already knew I loved, like Italian Sangiovese and Burgundies, into our cellar.

No real changes. While I still enjoy a great Cabernet Sauvignon from Californoa or a real nice Bordeaux, I'm drinking more Pinot Noir than anything else, as usual. Perhaps one change is that I'm drinking more PN from Burgundy than Oregon or anywhere else. There have been occasional forays into PN from New Zealand and Santa Barbara but not that much. Liz and I both enjoy PN flavors and it versatility with foods.

drinking more whites, especially Sauv Blanc, and rose..drinking more zin and Cal syrah, fewer cabs, PN's, Ital reds, rhones, zippo from Oz or Bordeaux..

As inevitably happens when one matures, one's tastes in wines change. That's why these days I like trophy Bordeaux, Barossa Shiraz, modern Spanish and Super-Tuscans. I always had this nagging suggestion in my brain that made me question why I bought Musar and Riesling instead. I now know I shouldn't have bought what I liked to drink. I should have bought what I hated when younger.

More blends. I used to wonder why anyone would mess around with a white varietal by blending it with something. Then I discovered in my own winemaking that Muscat Ottonnel really is better with some Riesling or Chardonnay blended in. And a young Iona is softened by Steuben. Now I look for blends that seem interesting when buying commercial wines.

Maybe a couple more whites than before; has to due with diet change.

I drink far fewer Burgundies than I used to because of the price and far fewer sweet rieslings because I mostly prefer a drier style. I'm also happy to have gotten so much exposure to different wines in Germany -and now in Oregon - even if it comes at the expense of others that I used to drink more frequently. Deep v. Wide I guess.

Cheers,
Bill

More Virgnia and Central Coast CA wines than 5 years ago. Also more Sonoma Coast PN.

Less Finger Lakes since I only buy when we visit and have not gone in years. Can't really pin down another area that is less.

Shift in the Cal Cabs. Not many Napa floor wines anymore (Except EMH) and instead buying Mtn Cabs.

Not much change elsewhere. Probably more from S. Italy due mainly to increased purchases from Sicily.

Definitely a shift away from red Burg (cost driven) and Aussie Shiraz (taste driven) toward Rhone, Cal Cab, and NW Pinots. WRT whites, we have much more Champagne in storage than five years ago and much less Sauv Blanc. Our white to red consumption ratio is still about 3 to 1.

[Robin Garr]

Hmm. Very, very interesting topic, Hoke. Thanks for starting it.

For me, no 180 turns or changes in direction but certainly a solidifying of the direction I was already headed: I want my wine to be food-friendly, Euro-style, dare I say "natural/anti-flavor wine elite"?) More than ever resistant to ParkerSpectatorized styles, won't bother to drink or even open high-alcohol, big fruit, big oak bottles. I rarely if ever spend $20 for a bottle any more, but recognizing reality, I also rarely if ever spend less than $10.

I was just saying to Mary the other night that I could probably be pretty happy with Tuscany and Cotes-du-Rhone and, when I can find it, decent affordable Pinot, for 90 percent of the red I drink, because I find them the most food-friendly and, in the affordable price ranges, less likely to be spoofy.

I may drink a somewhat higher percentage of whites than I used to because of my unexpected shift into mostly plant-based eating, and my tastes seem to go to Rhone or Austrian whites or selected Italian whites provided I can sort out the rich and interesting items from the vast lake of boring industrial Italian whites. Or good Loire whites when I can find them.

Do I sound cranky? I don't mean to. I still love wine as much as I did five years ago, but it may be that I don't take it as seriously. I enjoy it with dinner and would like a different wine every time I have wine with dinner, and that will still be several times a week.

[Robin Garr]

As inevitably happens when one matures, one's tastes in wines change. That's why these days I like trophy Bordeaux, Barossa Shiraz, modern Spanish and Super-Tuscans. I always had this nagging suggestion in my brain that made me question why I bought Musar and Riesling instead. I now know I shouldn't have bought what I liked to drink. I should have bought what I hated when younger.

Otto? Is that you?

[Jenise]

As inevitably happens when one matures, one's tastes in wines change. That's why these days I like trophy Bordeaux, Barossa Shiraz, modern Spanish and Super-Tuscans. I always had this nagging suggestion in my brain that made me question why I bought Musar and Riesling instead. I now know I shouldn't have bought what I liked to drink. I should have bought what I hated when younger.

Yeah, SURE.

[James Roscoe]

More from Italy for sure!

My changes in taste is recent years have not been dramatic, with one exception. Like David and Bob, I've found my love affair with Zinfanel grow cold and seen the Zin section in my cellar shrink to a sliver of its old self, with nothing left but old Lyttons and Geezers, which I like but postpone drinking, maybe because with time they taste less and less like Zinfandel.