We went to a post-Halloween Tarts & Vickers party at a friend's house last night. Our friends are wine drinkers but they and almost everyone else they know are in the 95% of people who drink the wine they buy within 48 hours of purchase. As the theme would indicate, they're only serious about having fun.
These gatherings always pull me back into that other reality that is not my cellar. In their world, all wines are drinkable ("eh") and some are "good". Among the good wines, extra points are given to wines mutually agreed to be "smooth". I was once like them and I wouldn't go back, but I can admit to feeling a pang of wistful envy over being so easily pleased, and for the course of an evening I tried to borrow their ease to put with my costume and quit being so damned analytical and unfun.
So, in the vernacular of the night:
2004 Beringer Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon: big berries, juicy-young, smooth.
2003 Clos du Bois Cabernet: lots of oak, the crowd seemed to think it good.
2002 Ravenswood Gregory Vineyard Cab-Mer blend: complex and tannic. I brought this one. Someday it will be smooth but it isn't now. But do I like smooth wine? No! I break character briefly to piggishly refill my pewter Holy Water mug with the last pour.
2003 Blackstone Syrah: A little grapey, some oak, very smooth. I'm not loving it.
2004 Pepperwood Syrah: Not grapey. Smoother. I like it better than the Blackstone.
--?-- Smoking Loon Syrah, or did it say Shiraz? Tastes Australian. Jammy and hot--oops, getting to analytical. Not smooth.
Somebody's home-made Madeline Angevine: eh.
2003 Hogue Genesis Sangiovese: tastes like candy. The vickers uniformly think this a bad idea, but the tarts uniformly like it. I'm a vicker, so I side with the guys. Eh.
2004 Beringer Founders Reserve Merlot: Definitely not smooth, another eh.
