| Some years ago in a book by Lee Iacocca, who | | | | astraightforward, innocuous wine. |
| was President of Ford Motor Co. prior to | | | | |
| takingover Chrysler Corp. and leading them | | | | 60-69 A below average wine containing |
| out of bankruptcy, I read that Mr. Iacocca's | | | | noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive |
| boss, Henry | | | | acidityand/or tannin, an absence of flavor or |
| | | | possibly dirty aromas or flavors. |
| Ford II, drank two bottles of Chateau | | | | |
| Lafite-Rothschild every day. Two bottles per | | | | 50-59 A wine deemed to be unacceptable." |
| day is anawful lot and wouldn't be advisable, | | | | |
| but I did like the thought of drinking fine | | | | To be sure, you will not find fine wines |
| wine every day. Today, depending on the | | | | rated at 96 or above on the cheap, 15% off or |
| vintage, two bottles of Chateau Lafite can | | | | not! However, it is entirely possible to find |
| cost upwards of $1,000 or even more. If your | | | | wines rated in the upper 80's (very good) or |
| name is Henry Ford you can no doubt afford | | | | even low 90's (lowoutstanding range) for good |
| this, but most of us have to settle for | | | | prices, often $10 or less on sale! If your |
| something a little less prestigious for our | | | | wine or liquor store does not display the |
| nightly dinner pairing. | | | | ratings tags, suggest that they do so, or if |
| | | | necessary find another store that does. |
| The point of this article is simple: One can | | | | |
| drink good, sometimes even excellent wines, | | | | The main advantage of the above strategy is |
| at veryreasonable prices. | | | | that you are basing your purchases on some |
| | | | opinion. If you simply choose a wine without |
| The easiest way to do this is to wait for | | | | knowing anything about it, you might still |
| your local liquor store to have their | | | | find a pleasurable bottle, but the chances of |
| periodic sales. Forexample, about once a | | | | success are considerably diminished. |
| month a large liquor store nearby our home, | | | | |
| which carries a reasonablygood selection of | | | | Another resource for choosing fine wines is a |
| wines from around the world, has a sale for | | | | good local wine specialty shop. In our town |
| 15% off for those on their "familyplan". So | | | | we have a shop run by a young man who is |
| that's obviously the time to stock up. | | | | extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of |
| | | | wine, from vineyard practices to production |
| The next question is what wines to choose. | | | | to tasting, and he is truly passionate about |
| Unless you already know some good | | | | the subject. I have learned to trust his |
| producersand have your favorites, the best | | | | judgment, and when he recommends a wine, I |
| guides are the little tags which give wine | | | | can count on it being a good choice. Ofcourse |
| ratings by winecritics such as Robert Parker | | | | he needs to charge more than the large volume |
| of "The Wine Advocate", the "Wine Spectator", | | | | liquor stores for his wines, but |
| and "The Wine | | | | hisknowledgeable inputs more than make up for |
| | | | the extra cost. So I routinely make a point |
| Enthusiast", among others. Most good liquor | | | | to pick upsome bottles at this shop in |
| stores make a point to display these tags for | | | | addition to stocking up as described above. |
| thewines that the critics have tasted. As an | | | | |
| example of wine ratings, here are the | | | | If you can afford to purchase and cellar |
| criteria used by | | | | great fine wines, then by all means go for |
| | | | it. But if yourwine budget is a little more |
| Robert Parker, considered by many to be the | | | | down to earth, try the procedure outlined |
| foremost of wine critics: | | | | above. I have found thewines recommended by |
| | | | the critics are almost always good, (nothing |
| "96-100 An extraordinary wine of profound and | | | | is foolproof, however, asevidenced by a |
| complex character displaying all the | | | | solidly mediocre Tuscan wine we tried last |
| attributesexpected of a classic wine of its | | | | week), but you'll be pleased most ofthe time. |
| variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a | | | | Personally I like the choices of Robert |
| special effort to find,purchase, and consume. | | | | Parker as well as those of The Wine |
| | | | Spectator. Also, I like to learn what I can |
| 90-95 An outstanding wine of exceptional | | | | about the wine, the grapes used, and also |
| complexity and character. In short, these are | | | | production methods used such as oak aging, |
| terrificwines. | | | | malolactic fermentation, etc. This is easily |
| | | | accomplished using the LaRousse Encyclopedia |
| 80-89 A barely above average to very good | | | | of Wine or other reference books. The more |
| wine displaying various degrees of finesse | | | | you learn about wine the more you will enjoy |
| andflavor as well as character with no | | | | the experience, and you'll also learn more |
| noticeable flaws. | | | | about how fine wines make food taste better. |
| | | | And as the old adage goes, "life is too short |
| 70-79 An average wine with little distinction | | | | to drink bad wine". |
| except that it is soundly made. In essence, | | | | |