Timeline

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Sharon Bowman

Sharon Bowman
Oswaldo's recent post has gotten me thinking about how our tastes evolve over time. I'd love to hear some thoughts on things you used to like and cycled out of, or things that used to be disliked but came into the fold.

I recall back in the day (2008-ish), I wasn't all too keen on Syrah or Chenin. (Search your Coad ritin's (for lack of newer) and see for yourselves.)

These days, I'm all skippity about cold breezes from the Pacific making good Peenots, but I'm flabtastic about Côte d'Or white.

Add, pls.
 
like you, it took me quite a while to come around to chenin and syrah. I'm still not sold on syrah but i love steve's syrahs. oh, and gonon too. and eric's.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

I recall back in the day (2008-ish), I wasn't all too keen on Syrah or Chenin.
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I remember that. Perhaps this tendency to change means you will be developing a love of riesling in the upcoming years!
 
In my own case, for better or worse, I pretty much started out where I am now. I was introduced to wine via Sancerre and Chinon by my high school French teacher who was from Orléans, and then a summer 2002 French course in Tours cemented my love of the Loire. And with that foundation, the usual related wines (Burgundy, Beaujolais, Northern Rhone, Piedmont, Germany/Austria) were soon added to the rotation.

Within that, the biggest change has probably been drinking much less cabernet franc, and I realized it was still too cabernet for me, with the tannin structure and all.
 
Perhaps eclecticism is a necessary stage in the development of discrimination. One starts trying a bit of everything, not sure whether one has the right to not like certain things because they might be acquired tastes, then begins to narrow the field. My personal timeline started Bordeauxcentric, then become Burgundycentric, then become Naturalcentric, with some effort to avoid disliking specific grapes, only specific practices.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Within that, the biggest change has probably been drinking much less cabernet franc, and I realized it was still too cabernet green for me...
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FIFY
 
While I have been primarily a red burg drinker for the past 25 years, i could still enjoy a good Bordeaux or Ca cab once in a while. But over the past couple of years I have developed a total dislike of cab-based wine.

Another odd twist - i have been a dedicated member of the "anything but chardonnay" club for a bazillion years but over the past year or two i have started really liking them and now own an all-time high of over six cases!

OTOH, I have loved german riesling since I started (legally) drinking wine.
 
Maureen, I personally relate very well to what you said in the first two paragraphs of your message. I would probably have added Rhone wines into the favorable category.

As for the third paragraph, I am regrettably not as well versed with these wines as I would prefer.

. . . . . Pete
 
Growing up in CA in the '60s and '70s, my attentions first turned to Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. When I moved to NYC in the early '80s for grad school, I found a new world (pun intended) of European wines. I'd fallen in love with Chateauneuf the summer before while bumming through Europe, and then expanded to the N Rhone via Kermit Lynch's imports. Garnet was critical to my education then. I also discovered Chablis and found it so much more refreshing than the CA Chardonnays I knew. My soon-to-be wife had taken an interest in Bordeaux, so we began to explore the excellent mid-'80s vintages. Back to Berkeley for our postdocs, where Jean discovered Pinot Noir in the Chez Panisse upstairs. Things stood there until SFJoe invited me to join Wine Disorder, which also coincided with a change in taste reglecting a change in our diet, with lighter fare calling for more subtle wines, so Chenin, Muscadet, Gamay and -- of course -- Burgundy. Riesling is still a work in progress with Jean.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MarkS:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Within that, the biggest change has probably been drinking much less cabernet franc, and I realized it was still too cabernet green for me...
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FIFY
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I don't know. I don't necessarily object to green elements in other red wines. I think it's the way green presents itself in cabernet. And to be clear, I don't dislike cabernet. I just don't love it the way I love other wines.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
To me, the two cabernets have very little in common aside from the first names, so I don't get them being grouped.
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Agreed. Franc seems the 'nobler' of the two, but maybe that's just me.

FCQV.png
 
I will admit that I was less than enthused with my first encounters with Beaujolais. Now, it's hard to imagine life without it.

And I will admit that there are certain strange times that I am comforted by an oaky Napa Cab - hottub on the coast at Bodega Bay, places like that.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
To me, the two cabernets have very little in common aside from the first names, so I don't get them being grouped.
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I find a lot of similarities when they are grown in the same area and vinified in a similar way.
 
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