How mysterious is taste? Let’s begin by observing that by time-honored consensus, there’s no accounting for it. Meaning, as we take it, that there’s no way to demonstrate conclusively why one person is drawn to something another is repelled by or, on another level, is merely indifferent to. Reasons can always be brought forward to put a rational shine on a particular inclination, but these always come after the fact, as reliably as carts follow horses. Examine your own preferences as carefully as you can and you may find, as we have, that you’re quickly driven to a position that doesn’t amount to much than this: I like it because I like it.
It would seem, then, that the process of surrounding ourselves with people, things and activities we find agreeable is an important means of cultivating a sense of personal identity. But here we’re met with more mystery, since there’s no way to separate what (if any) preferences may be in our DNA from those we pick up just by living. In theory, our tastes may make us who we are, but, in practice, we’re constantly influenced by the taste of others.
When you step into the FKC wine corner (or any retail wine shop) you’ll be there to choose wine that conforms to your preferences, but your choices will be limited by choices others have already made. What you see on our shelves on any given day is representative of wine that (1) is available from a Massachusetts distributor (contrary to what many people think, we are barred from buying wine directly from a winery); (2) meets our standards for quality; (3) is made, so far as we can determine, in good faith (a measure of the source’s seriousness, honest intent and demonstrable skill); (4) represents a variety of winemaking styles; (5) offers solid value for money at every price point.
It’s perfectly true that given the chance to remake our shelves from scratch, we could readily populate them with wine that meets all the above criteria without duplicating a single label. That’s a tribute to the amount of sound, drinkable, interesting wine out there right now – and to the good taste of others.