Why it’s time to forget everything you know about wine
Forget the so-called connoisseurs and the cork-sniffers — and toast the new rules of wine, according to Hannah Crosbie
DESPITE drinking buckets of the stuff, many of us still lack confidence when it comes to wine. We become a bit too dependent on what other people tell us to drink, and when alone at a restaurant, bar or bottle shop, choosing a bottle persists as a source of nail-biting anxiety. We’re drinking with the stabilisers on.
Can you imagine having the same dread when you order a pint of lager, or an espresso martini? Life would be impossible and every visit to a pub would be six hours long. The solution? It’s time to forget everything we know about wine. The rules we abide by — what we ought to drink and how we ought to drink it — have been established by centuries of tradition and decades of socialising, and while they’re sometimes helpful for navigating an otherwise overwhelming amount of information, following them too blindly can restrict our drinking experiences. So it’s time to rethink. At best, those old guidelines are workable, but at worst, they’re plain outdated. The world of wine is constantly evolving, and so should our understanding of it.
While I’m ever-happy to provide advice, I encourage the people I meet at my events and wine clubs to think for themselves. What do you like to drink, and how do you like to drink it? What follows are some suggestions on how you might traverse the world of wine with a little more freedom. But don’t just take my word for it — it’s time to write your own rules. And when the time comes, be just as prepared to break them too.
The seasons can suck it
There’s a tendency to drink very seasonally — refreshing white wines and rosés in the summer, and full-bodied, warming reds in the winter. Sure, it makes sense, but why not savour a structured, gastronomic rosé during winter or an ever-ubiquitous chilled red in the height of summer? There’s also a possibility that someone reading this may be one of those logic-defying drinkers who enjoys a pub garden white
during winter — and why shouldn’t you be? Time is a construct. The only thing certain in life is wine.
There’s no such thing as saying ‘the right thing’ (or wrong thing)
Wine is a language that few of us learn to speak fluently. Even when you work in the industry, the occasional phrase can trigger your own imposter syndrome (most recently, that phrase was “tannins like ball bearings”). Stick to your guns and use the language that comes naturally to you. If you’ve never used the phrase “kaleidoscopic minerality” before, best not to do it for the first time in front of a thirsty table of six. Fruity? Salty? Smooth? Dry? Perhaps it tastes of a dessert you enjoyed as a kid. Wine is completely subjective, but a good sommelier will know what you’re trying to get at.
Pairings are pretentious
We’ve all been guilty of this catch-all: red wine for meat, white wine for fish, and if anything falls outside these two categories, say your goodbyes and climb out the bathroom window. And while these rules work, they’re often broken — even by the professionals. How about a light red with a meatier trout? Or a robust white with beef carpaccio? Or sparkling wine with literally everything? Or, a glass of whatever the f*** you want with a generous plate of whatever the f*** you like? Go out for a meal, and leave someone more qualified than yourself to pore over the intricacies of food and wine pairing. Or don’t.
It (probably) doesn’t matter if your fridge is on the blink
In this country, we can enjoy our white wines too cold and our red wines too warm. The colder a white wine is, the fewer aroma compounds are released, so it ends up tasting mostly of acid and alcohol. And while I’ll enjoy a simple chilled red at any time of the year (see above), some of the more complex, tannic wines also benefit from a coolerthan-you’d-expect cellar temperature. The pleasure then lies in unlocking all sides of a wine as it comes down, or up, to room temperature. Or, if adding ice cubes to wine is your thing, disregard all of the above. You do you.
The times (and vines) are a-changing
When a wine person sees the name of a region, country or even vineyard on a label, they’re able to make an assumption about what the wine tastes like. But, due to the effects of climate change, which pose endless nailbiting phenomena for winemakers, much of what we’ve come to expect from wine could be set to change. For example, due to rising temperatures, previously underestimated, cooler appellations in Burgundy (such as St Aubin or Santenay) are now producing wines comparable with far more expensive areas. Some regions are even experimenting with new grapes better suited to the hotter climate (see: touriga nacional in Bordeaux and monbadon in Cognac).
Drink what you love; why waste time on anything else?