Who do you trust?

Have you ever gone to see a movie that some critics loved, but you walked
out, shaking your head, thinking: “Why did I just waste two hours
watching that?” It’s the same with wine. I taste a wine that
I think isn’t worth the bottle it’s in, and I find that some
exalted writer has given it a high rating. Or, I’ll taste a wine
that sells for $25 and know that it’s really worth about half that
… and, again, read a stellar review of it somewhere.

How about the time that one well-known wine critic told everyone to mortgage
the house, raid the saving account and buy, buy, buy as much of one newly
released wine that they could get their hands on. Two days later, the
wine maker recalled the wine, taking back and destroying every bottle.
The wine had become infected with brettanomyces, a type of yeast infection,
which made the wine smell like… well, charitably put, like a dirty diaper.
Going to blindly trust his judgment?

What if I told you that I’ve seen more than one wine get a barely
favorable review from a publication that the winery didn’t advertise
in. After a few full page, full color ads were bought, the wine we reconsidered
and, almost magically, the reviewers now thought it was a wonderful wine,
a must-buy! Are you going to trust their credibility?

There are many wine shops where they don’t taste wines before they
buy them. How do they know which wines to buy? They simply go through
the trade reports, and buy whatever everyone else is buying. This type
of shop also buys up the odds and ends that wholesalers can’t get
rid of: bad wines, spoiled wines, “off” wines that they dump
for pennies. These shops will sell them for a few dollars as “bargains.”
Bad wine is never a bargain. There are plenty of wine shops that operate
like this. I’ve met some of those shop owners. Most of them don’t
even drink wine, let alone have a passion for it! I wouldn’t
trust their selections; would you?

So, whom do you trust for wine advice, then? Well, I trust my own palate.
I drink what I like… but I’m fortunate enough to taste thousands
of wines each year. What I do at Red White & Bubbly is to use my experiences
to bring my “finds” to you.

Every month, whether it’s my under ten dollar Best Buys, my Discovery
Wines, Cellar Selections or wines from a featured winery, I buy wines
that I know are well made, good tasting wines that are worth the price.
When I buy a wine, I’m buying that wine for you. All write-ups on
the shelves are my own. I use my own words to tell you about the wine:
what it tastes like and why I like it. It’s like having a friend
in the business, giving you his inside tips.