In Georgian England, three-bottle men were so-called because of the prodigious quantities of Port they consumed daily. It’s easy to see how, under these circumstances, dinner parties could (and frequently did) degenerate into the kind of riotous behavior immortalized in Thomas Rowlandson’s 1801 The Brilliants (above). Why then do we encourage visitors to the wine corner to become two-bottle a day persons themselves – three if they can manage it? Because making a habit of tasting more than one wine at a time (not more wine at a time) is the surest and most direct route to becoming a more discerning – and happier – wine consumer.
Pulling more than one cork at a time means you’ll be tasting wine in the context of other wine – a situation in which the relative values present in each wine (body, fruit, acid, sweetness, texture) become more obvious, sharply defined, distinct and discernible. The purpose of setting one wine up against another isn’t to create a contest, but to reveal what otherwise would remain obscure. The travel-size take-away? Wine reveals its true self only in the company of other wine.
But hang on. Crucial as it is, context isn’t the only benefit accruing to the multi-bottle personality. Dipping into more than one bottle per night means your days of wine speed-dating are over. We explain that . . . next week.
This Week in the Wine Corner . . .
Thursday May 31, 3-6 PM — It’s not a contest . . .
2016. Domaine Augis, Valençay Blanc, $14.95 #loiredevivre
2017 Thibaud Boudignon, Rosé de Loire, $22.95 #apinkandanod
2013 Terraviva “Lui”” Montepulciano d’Abruzzo,” $22.95 #luiprima
Friday June 1, 3-6 PM — It’s the context
NV Dom. de Lelièvre “Leucquois” Mèthode Traditionelle Sparkling Gamay, $18.95 #bubblicious
2014 Quinta de Saes, Dao Tinto, $19.95 #daoist
2015 Château Coupes Roses Minervois “Vignals,” $21.95 #coupesdegrace
-Stephen Meuse