A call for context: wine’s pleasures all in your head?
Eric Asimov has a great piece in today’s Times about all the sensory inputs of wine–and he’s not talking about blackberries, leather, and tar but rather what makes us buy and ultimately enjoy a given wine.
The piece summarizes recent research into wine purchasing decisions, particularly two studies that have made consumers appear to be easily influenced by price. Obviously many other factors go into what makes you buy a wine including what you’ve read about it, the place of origin, the grape, the producer, the importer, and perhaps the bottle design and label (if you’re new to this site, have your say in our worst wine label contest while submissions are still open!).
I’m a huge fan of context for wine enjoyment and thanks to Eric for quoting me in the story with this perspective. Sometimes context can even elevate a humble bottle of wine to make it an all-time favorite. I remember Frank Prial, previously wine critic for the Times, saying that the best bottle of wine he ever had was some crappy wine he drank enthusiastically right after returning from a tour in the Korean War. It wasn’t the wine so much as it was the fact that he was home.
It’s amazing how often learned wine folk cite humble bottles as their faves when the experience was really so much about the mood and the moment. How has context influenced a great wine experience of yours?
Maybe there should be 100 point moments rather than 100 point wines. There’s no price tag on that, after all.
Related: “Wine’s Pleasures: Are They All in Your Head? [NYT]
A reduced-sized crop of the image attributed to Lars Klove that accompanies that piece is reproduced here.
On May 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am ,Jenn wrote:
While we were still just dating, my now-husband and I went to Spain and bought a bottle of Montecillo Rioja Crianza from a tiny little bodega near our hostel and drank it on our balcony overlooking the Paseo del Prado. A year later, when proposing to me, my husband presented me with another bottle of Montecillo and said that on the night in Spain when we drank our Rioja out of plastic cups he knew he wanted to marry me. We’ve been married for 8 years now and Montecillo Rioja Crianza is practically our house wine. It always tastes like spring in Madrid.
On May 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm ,Arthur wrote:
Tyler,
I’d say that there are many levels to enjoy a wine – from the casual to the academic. Everyone is free to enjoy anything at whatever level they wish.
That being said, we should remember that the only thing that a wine writer has in common with their readers is the wine being discussed. Everything outside of the bottle is subjective and varies.
The notion of a “100 point moment” is a nice sentiment. I have them too. (My favorite is sitting on the porch of the Wesley Hotel in Oak Bluffs and watching a torrential down pour with my fiancée. The wine was from a nearby liquor store and mediocre. We also drank it from plastic cups and there was no denying or disguising its quality, but we drank it and enjoyed the rain, making jokes about the wine (as we poured more).
Context is fine, personal preferences are fine – as are opinions. But I am capable of cherishing the moment while knowing the wine was poor and that I will never buy it again. The moment does not elevate my assessment of the wine and the wine’s quality does not diminish the moment.
Is this distinction (admittedly, a buzz kill for romantic notions of wine) *that* difficult to make?
The Caltech study says that what happens in our brains allows us to make this distinction. We are not always (unfortunately) confident enough to let ourselves do that.
On May 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm ,Lindi wrote:
I really enjoyed this article and your notes on it. I believe that context has so much to do with how we view wines. When I was in my mid 20’s and feverishly working two jobs to pay off my student loans while at the same time housing a starving artist boyfriend I bought bottles of Mad House Wife White Wine. It was inexpensive and quenched my thirst! I am not sure that at this point in time I would feel the same way about it. . .
At the same time, I think people forget that opinions are not wrong. I have tasted plenty of wines, highly rated, that even if priced more modestly I would not buy. And then there are wines that are in the <$10 category that I don’t feel bad about picking up from time to time. (ie: Pepperwood Grove Syrah – often times $6 – and well, tasty). Who cares what the cashier thinks as I’m walking out with it.
All in all, I wish people didn’t place so much pressure on people when it comes to consuming wine. If you like it, drink it. If not, let me try it.
On May 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm ,Steve wrote:
I really like the concept that context really drives so much about our perceived preferences. I know that I have very fond memories of the wines and vineyards we visited on my honeymoon.
On May 8th, 2008 at 9:45 am ,Joe wrote:
I went to a Napa Valley winery recently where the wines were priced very high. All the wines were good but not great. None of the wines in my judgement should have been over $20. Napa’s big advantage is its reputation; wineries there can charge more for their wine simply because the wine came from the Napa Valley,
http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/?p=317
On May 8th, 2008 at 4:07 pm ,bb wrote:
Years ago, I worked at an Italian lifestyle place where folks who had just been to Italy often came and filled their carts with goodies that they had discovered on their trip. Most of the returning travelers were completely entranced, they had drunk the Vernacchia, and were going to recreate that experience at home.
After a few trips, they were often gone never to be seen again. I imagine that they still enjoyed the Italian goodies, but drinking the wines while sitting at your kitchen table while paying the AmEx bill isn’t the same as being there and drinking it sitting on some piazza with the pigeons and all.
There was once a Harvard psychologist who talked about “setting and setting variables”, how an experience was colored by where you were (the setting) and your expectations (the set). I have no doubt that these variables play a huge role in our sensory impressions.
I also remember the Frank Prial comment, that man was the best wine critic ever!
On May 14th, 2008 at 1:24 am ,Brian Johnson wrote:
I will confine myself to the following aphorism:
Good company will do more for bad wine than good wine will do for bad company.