Having just read yet another article on the charms and nobility of riesling and why one should drink that instead of boring, insipid pinot gris, I find myself wondering instead whether these authors actually drink any decent wines themselves?
Surely they must have tried the heavenly delights of fine Alsatian pinot gris – do they not know of Deiss, Zind-Humbrecht or Weinbach? Can they not appreciate that a grape which can run the gamut from crisp, dry and minerally as in the best Collio pinot grigios through to the sublime decadence of a German TBA example is hardly dull or one-dimensional? Have they ever bothered to try a wide range of wines – after all, there is a pretty amazing selection out there… or do they just drink whatever they are sent and jump on bandwagons?
While everyone has their favourites (I could survive on Champagne and Burgundy, if I really had to) to write off an entire variety seems foolish at best, and displays a pretty plain and profound unawareness of wine.
I suspect it is lack of imagination and a peculiar sort of snobbish ignorance that leads to these sorts of statements; it also smacks of having little real experience of the world of wine – where it is the quality and character of a wine that truly reveal its intrinsic worth – not just the variety from which it is made.
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