My Philosophy on Wine

I rate and evaluate wine according to the following principles starting from the lowest rating to the highest.  It, of course, is not a perfect system and it does not conform to the usual “Parker” or “’ Wine Spectator” rating system.  But it works for me and I hope it is helpful to you. 

Not Drinkable/ Pour down the Sink Wine

This is a wine that quite frankly makes you want to vomit.  Or as Red  Foxx used to say Puke.  It is hard to say vomit when you are puking.  This wine is awful.  It is either corked, or heavily oxidized, or simply just plain bad wine.  No matter how desperate you are to get an alcohol high you do not want to drink this wine.  It is poured down the sink!

Barely Drinkable

OK for all you wino’s out there this is your wine.  It really is a bad wine but if desperate and you need to get high you can force this wine down.  This is the “Bali High” or “Mogen David” wines that you felt compelled to drink in college.  Quite frankly I actually used these wines to clean my paintbrushes in college for art classes and when desperate to get high I drank these wines.  But with maturity no more.

Fair Wine

A slight step above barely drinkable but clearly a difference.  This is when you are on a date at a mediocre Italian Restaurant and you want to impress your date so you order Lancers Rose or some cheap Chianti.  These wines are totally unimpressive but they will do for the moment.  Something you might buy for a cheap date but something you wouldn’t serve to friends.

Good Wine

This is the minimum standard that I set for myself today after 15 years of wine tasting.  Life is simply too short to drink bad wine.  These are the wines that you serve to friends or that you have for your anniversary party or that you stock by the case in your cellar for everyday drinking.  Nothing exceptional about these wines but they are pleasant, fairly well balanced, at least a minimum showing of fruit, and no bad qualities overshadow the wine.  Generally $10 to &15 per bottle of wine.

Very Good Wine

A Step above good wine.  Generally, $15-$25 per bottle wine that has a little bit more complexity to it and clearly no overwhelming bad characteristics.  These wines have to have more than and adequate showing of fruit flavor as that what wine is all about is it not, fruit????

Excellent Wine

This is your 90-93 Wine Spectator rated wine.  Clearly better than very good and an exceptionally well-balanced pleasant wine.  Nothing strikes you as bad or not good about this wine and frankly, your cellar either is or should be 90% of this kind of wine because it is what you really want to drink on an everyday basis for the average person.  These wines in general cost between $25 - $50 per bottle.  The one example that I can clearly think of is the Stonestreet Chardonnay, particularly 1997 and 1999.  A wonderful, Excellent wine to drink every day or with friends or take to a great restaurant and enjoy it beyond description!!!

Outstanding Wine

This is a wine that has everything but for whatever reason is just a hair shy of spiritual.  These wines are clearly well made and almost perfectly if not perfectly balanced.  You enjoy them beyond reason and quite frankly some of them are very good value and inexpensive.  But unfortunately, they are just a shy short of spiritual.  But you are willing to drink them forever hoping that over time they will become spiritual and maybe with aging some of them will.  They are probably what most “: Grand Cru” wines actually are.

Spiritual Wine

I have had the good fortune to drink a few Spiritual Wines in my lifetime.  The strange thing is you spend the rest of your life searching for these wines at $10 a bottle.  The top spiritual wines that I can remember is 1978 Pichon Lelande Bordeaux, 1989  “Aux Allots” Madame Leroy Nuits – St. George  Red Burgundy, 1977 Hanzell Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, 1997 Ramonet Montrachet, 1990 Chateau D'Yquem Sauternes, 2015 Chateau D'Yquem Sauternes, 2003 Chateau Guiraud Sauternes, and 1933 Broadbent Madeira Malmsey(or Malvasia). You remember everything about these wines including the year, winemaker, designation, etc. etc.  After all of these years, I still remember these wines.  I have had the 1990 Chateau D'Yquem multiple times and one time cried it was such a moving experience, I also have a few more bottles in the cellar.  When you drink these wines you simply see the Glory of God.  It is like the Cheech and Chong wedding album when they talk about playing Black Sabbath at 78 speed.  You simply see God and you wonder how in the hell did a human being create this wine out of something as simple as a wine vine that grows out of the ground.  It is the experience that all those that love wine aspire to and spend the rest of their lives searching for.