While perusing an article entitled "In Praise of the Sommelier" by Victoria Moore writing for The Telegraph, I found one passage that really caught my eye. Though not about sommeliers explicitly, it was more about the variables that surround and influence our enjoyment of a wine:
"I sometimes think wines taste better when I haven’t chosen them myself – there’s an element of surprise and you don’t try to second-guess before you sip. Also, however hard you might try to walk on the grass, we all have our ruts, and even the wines we pick to get out of the rut are often just the next-stage rut."
Do you get more satisfaction out of a wine that is delivered to your table and poured into your glass when it's something surprising? Is it more memorable than the old tried-and-true? I have a go-to Chilean Sauvignon Blanc that I buy time and time again because I like it and it's inexpensive. But, like Moore, sometimes with wine (and food, and music, and books, etc.) you struggle to "walk on the grass". The last time I dared stray from the sidewalk I was pleasantly surprised, if not delighted, with a white wine from Savoie. Of course, this was a self-selected bottle, but when you give yourself the chance to be surprised, whether it's about wine or life, the rewards can be significantly more memorable.
