Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/807387
20 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } APRIL/MAY 2017 { bottom line } OF COURSE, WHEN WE CHOOSE wines for our wine lists we are concerned primarily with quality. But after 39 years in the wine business, I have to admit that I still scratch my head over the simple question: Exactly what is a good wine? Is it a wine everyone recognizes as good wine, or a wine no one's heard of and there - fore comes with an element of surprise, like Christmas or birthday presents? Is it a "big" wine with "gobs" of "hedonistic" varietal fruit, or the opposite—a wine that is lean, sharp, minerally or decidedly unfruity? Is it a wine that expresses sense of place—i.e., terroir—or a wine that expresses the skill and originality of a winemaker, or the heroism of a grower? Is it a wine that goes great with specific dishes on your menu, or a wine that guests just love to drink, food contexts be damned? The logical answer is that a good wine can fulfill multiple needs. Our guests, after all, are not all cut from the same cloth. It makes sense to go with the percentages and select wines that appeal to a cross- section of the peeps who pay the bills. Still, the question bears interesting philo - sophical discussion, and so I turned to a longtime friend in Hawaii, Chuck Furuya, MS—who has been in the business of buy- ing and selling wine even longer than me— to spice up the dialogue. Chuck came back with something like a 1,000-word response to my question "What is good wine?" With severe editing, Chuck's musings: A good wine should have intensity and concentration, whether it is light in body or rich and full-bodied. A good wine should have a very even and seamless flow on the palate from beginning to end . . . not "front-loaded," or bold and showy out of the gate. A good wine should be un-bitter, un-alcoholic, un- oaky—which actually works much better with a wide range of foods, since good wines are also balanced wines, and balanced wines have a better chance of going with balanced dishes prepared by a good chef. But I don't look for "correct" wines. I look for something more—character, for one. The same way I don't look for someone who sings a song correctly, or even perfectly. I much prefer someone who sings from the heart, with an emotion that moves me. While the classic som - melier's tool, blind tastings, remains a great way to hone skills, particularly pertaining to delineation of quality, character and typicity, Furuya admits: I always have mixed feel - ings about blind tastings. Most sommeliers inevitably select their favorites in a line-up, which are usually the biggest, blackest, loudest, most dramatic wines—or maybe the opposite. While that is okay for most, you have to ask: What have you learned? I believe one of the areas our industry needs to spend more time on is the study of wines by truly masterful winemakers. Game-changers . . . such as André Ostertag in Alsace, Gunter Künstler in the Rheingau, Michel Reverdy in the Loire, Coche-Dury in Burgundy . . . produc - ers of pure, transparent, delicately nuanced wines of fabulous intensity, glorious breed and pedigree, done with seamlessness, complete- ness, class and finesse. The danger of focusing on "game-chang- ers," of course, is falling into the same trap that has plagued the entire score-obsessed industry over the past 50 years: the preoccupa - tion with Platonic ideals of what constitutes "good wine." Ostertag, Künstler, Reverdy and Coche-Dury may share a commonality of terroir-driven transpar - ency in their products, but simple minds may interpret this to mean, for example, that all Rieslings must be measured according to ones by Ostertag or Künstler, when, in fact, Rieslings grown in Washington, British Columbia or South Australia may possess sensory attri - butes barely resembling ideals forged in Alsace or Germany. So what is good Riesling, ideal Sauvignon Blanc, perfect Pinot Noir, or good wine in general? That is a question for each and every sommelier to ponder—for the rest of your career! A Simple Question (Or Is It?) WHAT IS GOOD WINE? by Randy Caparoso PHOTO COURTESY OF DK RESTAURANTS Chuck Furuya, MS, is a partner and Wine Director for Hawaii's DK Restaurants. PHOTO VIA THINKSTOCK