ways an objective measure of quality. They measure properties
that will likely separate a $20 bottle of wine from a $35 bottle
and a $50 and above bottle.
And again, “the more you have of that, the bigger the wine feels
on your palate, the sweeter (in texture) it feels, the richer it feels
and probably most importantly, it’s shown that the wine ultimately lasts longer by having that level higher.”
At Inwood, we borrow another phrase and say that these phenolic compounds are The Right Stuff. If you have a lot of them,
your wine is worth a lot of money, and if you don’t have a lot of
them your wine is not worth a lot of money. At least you would
think so, but as we shall see, it doesn’t always work out that way,
which is why people still buy bad bottles of wine.
Now I know I have a very smart audience. I’m sure by now you
are already jumping ahead to the implications. Once a wine has
a “number” that can be measured and quantified, the unemployment rate is going to move up a notch or two. How silly and
obsolete would the fabled 100-point rating scale be, that is
based on one person’s unverifiable opinion? Especially when
you have a hard scientific analysis in a form that anyone can
understand right in front of you! Or how absurd is some obtuse
panel of “experts” with no facts and a boring list of tastes and
smells and whatever else they can dream up? They would all be
instant dinosaurs.
Even further, why would you ever need some dude to come
around to your table in a restaurant pushing some factory wine
for a fat commission at four times the price in the store? Or have
him gaze into the ceiling and wax poetic about how a certain
wine reminds him of the moon over the Pacific off the coast of
Catalina in the Autumn? Or any other blather? Answer: You
won’t.
But here’s the Big One: Redefining the Price of Wines.
The Flawed “Hallowed Ground” Theory
When I was trained into this industry 38 years ago, I was, like
everyone else at the time, educated according to what I not-solovingly refer to as the “Hallowed Ground” Theory. Simply, that
somehow the Heavens parted and the Light shone down upon
a certain property, and sure enough, that site became the
Hallowed Ground fo