Wine Judge or Wine Drinker
How many times have you heard the comment from wine snobs that homemade wine is inferior to commercial wines? How many times have you served your own proudly crafted wine to these same wine snobs, and they are very favourably impressed. They ask what kind of wine is this and where can they buy it. You either string them along or proudly boast that you have another 25 bottles or so in the basement at a fraction of the cost your wine snob friend paid for his Chateau du la feet 2001.
But hold on, don’t be to quick to judge the wine snob. Many sommeliers, judges and so called wine connoisseurs, maybe looking for something quite different from what we enjoy best. The so-called top quality wines are typically over-the-top jammy, high alcohol, loaded with tannins, which is what wine judges are trained to look for.
However, the typical wine drinker is after something completely different. We are after something we enjoy in social settings, with friends or over a nice meal. And that’s what the kit makers realize. So they produce easy to drink, smooth wines that can be consumed young and don’t have to wait for the next generation to be drinkable.
Of course many of these highly touted commercial wines come with penalties to us wine drinkers. Firstly, they hurt the pocketbook, and to many they leave you with a nasty headache.
While the judges may dismiss your homemade wine, the ultimate judge, you the winemaker and wine drinker know what you prefer.