Wine tip for the average Joe #002

Tongue Burn Out

In my post about my top 5 favorite wines, I mentioned that my number 3 was the Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. I have an interesting story about this, because I had a very different impression of it when I had my first taste. When Vee and I went on our honeymoon to wine country in Cali, we took a 5 winery tour of Napa. I can go into detail about the other wineries in another post sometime, but I will just say that at the first winery we tasted 4 sparkling wines and at the second we tasted 6 more wines: 3 white and 3 red. Thats a total of 10 wines! Rutherford Ranch was the 3rd winery on our tour and what we didn't realize was that by that time our taste buds had taken a major beating. We had 6 more wines at Rutherford Ranch and the Cabernet Sauvignon was the last one.

When I tasted the wine, I found it to have a bland taste, lacking a bold dynamic flavor one would come to expect from a Cab. I didn't really think much of it, I had tasted bland wines before and just assumed that was that. When it came time to leave the winery I purchased the Cabernet and a Rutherford Merlot as souvenirs and nothing more. I meant to have them on hand to give to friends or something like that.

The week after we got home from our trip, we went to hang out with Vee's step dad while he was hanging out alone for a weekend and I thought we might bring the Cab along just as something for us to sip on while we chat. I popped the cork and poured each of us a glass. To my surprise I had been mislead by my tongue at the winery! This was the best Cabernet Sauvignon I had ever tasted. I was really confused because of my experience the first time with the wine. I realized then that I need to make sure to take better care of my taste buds when I am planning to sample so many wines. I assumed the bus ride between wineries was enough recovery time for my tongue, but it obviously wasn't. My tongue didn't even actually feel worn out either. And the Merlot we bought that same day turned out to be the best Merlot I have had. I'm glad we decided to buy those 2 bottles even after my unfair judgement, because Rutherford Ranch has turned out to be a very reliable wine producer. We haven't had one of their wines that we didn't enjoy.

So, this post is to make anyone who reads this aware of the possibility that you may beat the crap out of your tongue at your next wine party and miss out on a really good wine. If you suspect that your tongue may be misleading you, listen to your friends' opinions about the wine in question and you might have reason to try it again another time when you can devote your tongue to it.