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12/15/2005 Entry: "Changing Palate"

Garrett's hosting another cookoff tonight. He's providing dinner, Cybele's taking care of dessert. Game on!

I'm less than a year into my recent wine addiction and I've already noticed my palate change on more than one occasion. I think this has less to do with my work on my wine education and more to do with the simple fact that I've purposely had many more wine variations in the last year. A year ago I was perfectly happy with a bottle of 2002 Yellow Tail Shiraz Reserve. These days, I'm more into experimenting with the great stuff coming out of New Zealand, Chile, Spain.

My early palate was based on recognition. If I was familiar with a certain taste or aroma, the wine appealed to me - it was friendly, approachable. The heavily oaked fruit bombs from Cali appealed to me. Yellow Tail appealed to me. These are wines that have a heavier amount of 'something' and I gravitated towards them because of consistency. Disclaimer: These wines are great wines, in fact, its hard to get a bottle of crappy wine these days. Wine opinion is purely subjective - what I love, you may hate, and vice versa. That's the beauty of this stuff. Everyone is their own expert.

These days, my preferences are towards wines with more balance. I like to be presented with many flavors, many aromas, and challenge myself to dissect the flavor profile. I've been shying away from the wines that are out of balance - too much oak, too high in alcohol, too much fruit. I lean towards softer wines with more elaborate flavor profiles. Instead of being hit in the face with one recognizable taste, I want to be challenged, let me investigate, let me search.

Here's a few recommendations for the Holiday season.

2002 Mer Soleil Chardonnay (USA, California, Central Coast) - This is one top notch chard... it's like butter. wicked smooth with hints of apricot.

2001 Château la Liquiere Cuvée Cistus (France, Languedoc) - Syrah blend. Dark, rich blueberry and light oak flavors. nice light tannins as well.

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Posted by Adult Personals @ 12/29/2005 09:17 PM EST

Ironic but I have been doing the same thing with beer. This Fall I was very into ales, sampled almost every regional brewer I could find, of which there are scads. Lately, I've been trying more stouts and porters, all delicious. Keep in mind, beer and wine snobs alike can be insufferable to hang out with, so still never complain when politely offered a glass of Estancia or Amstel Light.

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