Which Wines Win?
A primer on good wine after a two-decade-long journey of wading through a sea of garbage.
They say that the mantis shrimp has 16 photoreceptors, while we humans have a measly 4. These bottom feeders are blessed with the capacity to see music as the waves rock back and forth — or something. Perhaps they can see the future more vividly than we can. I don’t know. They’re short on opinions, and I haven’t interviewed (m)any.
I imagine this is how some winos’ overevolved tastebuds work, being able to pick out all manner of berries, tobacco, pencil shavings and other random odours from the slightest sniff of a glass of wine.
As far as the winos are concerned, I won’t (and don’t) care if they really can identify the scent of tennis balls in their glass or not.
Wine has a reputation for being pretentious, but so do many other interests; people tend to deride what they do not or cannot understand and enjoy.
Insofar as I like wine, I confess that I cannot taste leather in my wine. All wine, to me, smells and taste like wine. But if I have learned one thing in almost 20 years of drinking wine, it is this: I can tell good wine from a bottle of Chateau Migraine.
You see, persistence pays, even if it takes 20 years and warehouses of antihistamines, hydration salts and Panadol. Here are a few things that you can pick up for free — and for far less pain.
Italian wine tastes the best over the widest price range
Ah, Italy. Where to begin? I chose to honeymoon in Italy for 7 weeks for several good reasons, one of them being the wine.
The weather in Italy is more temperate than its neighbours to the north and so enjoys an exciting range of produce. Italian tomatoes? Unbeatable. Olive oil? Delicious. Grapes? Take your pick; the north produces good white wines while the rest of the peninsula bottles some of the finest red wines anywhere in the world, including icons like rosso di Montalcino, chianti, amarone, barolo, brunello and primitivo.
Is French wine more your thing? Then savour Bordeaux-style wines from Tuscany (also known as “Super Tuscans”) that merge French and Italian grapes and winemaking know-how. The 2015 Sassicaia from this region won Wine of the Year some years ago.
The best part about Italian wine is this: You can get great-tasting wine at any price range. I cannot say this about many countries, especially of wines from the new world.
Here’s what I mean: Drinking in my home country of Malaysia is expensive; we’re hit with the double-whammy of shitty forex rates/purchasing power and high duties on alcohol.
So, we need to economise on our wine purchases. Unfortunately, many new world wines are absolute garbage in the low-to-mid price range. Even Australia, one of the biggest wine producers in the world, suffers from this (sorry).
Range is where Italian wine shines. I would separate Italian wine tiers like this:
Cheap-and-cheerful primitivos and chiantis are quite well-made, and usually cost around RM80-110.
The moderately priced valpolicella ripasso is around RM120+ and it is already very good.
Valpolicella ripasso, to me, is the best value-for-money wine anywhere in the world — it borrows complexity from amarones without being so tough on the wallet.
Amarones hover around the RM200+ range and beyond, and are a delight.
Then you venture into the big(ger) leagues, the barolos and brunellos that cost around RM250-500+, and this is where the palates of 99.5% of wine drinkers really, if we’re being honest about it, maxes out.
Super tuscans have a huge range, with the best easily going into the four figures. However, I find that good Italian wines are only about two-thirds the cost of an equally good French bottle.
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French wine is good, but a hassle
So little time, so many chateaus. Which to choose?
Once your palate evolves — and it will — you’ll invariably want to venture into the French section of the wine list, which is usually the longest and contains the most names most people struggle to pronounce.
But fret not, mon petit pois, you can just point to the list if you’re unsure of which vowels to omit in the name of the vineyard.
French wine is good for a variety of reasons, producing some of the most highly regarded, expensive and historical wines in the world.
If you’re a novice-going-on-experienced drinker and want to break into French wine, but are confused with the many regions, or appellations, in France, first try and sample a few wines from the different regions; there are many wines from the RM200-300 range that are delight.
You could also try Bordeaux-style wines before taking the plunge into the more serious wines.
These are wines from outside France that are blended with grapes like cabernet and merlot, or made solely using those grapes but grown outside Bordeaux and made in the French style. They’re a convenient bridge between a country you’re familiar with and France. But that’s not to say the wines are compromised; indeed, they can be very good and punch well above their weight.
If you want to venture into the big(ger) leagues of French wine, you can start with their fifth growth wines. My pick? Chateau Pontet-Canet.
A few thoughts about the New World
I mentioned earlier that Australia produces a lot of mediocre wine, but once you go into the high range, the wine becomes very, very good. I wish it wasn’t that way. You open a low-to-mid range Australian wine, and you’re greeted by the synthetic, Barney-purple hue of coloured wine, or acrid taste and the certainty of a severe hangover.
Then you dive into the deeper end and you sample the maximum potential of what Australia has to offer, which is divine.
I rarely ever drink wines from South Africa, Chile, Argentina or New Zealand — as a matter of preference and avoidance due to too many instances of migraines. I will never enjoy malbecs.
The Napa Valley has piqued my interest over the past few years, and I’ve grown to like Stag’s Leap. I hope to sample Screaming Eagle and Opus One one day.
Wine is a journey of discovery. Every bottle is different, even across different vintages. While we may not get to sample the greats from the 20th century, we have the unique opportunity to drink the wines of our time.
I bid you cheers.