Rant: The Boston Wine Expo Wine's I Disliked

This past weekend, I spent two days sampling wines, spirits, and food at the Boston Wine Expo, tasting about 175 wines and spirits. That might seem like a lot, but you also have to note that it means I didn't taste over 1600 wines and spirits. I tasted a fraction of what was available, having to make hard choices of which tables I visited, which wines I wanted to experience. I know I missed some excellent wines but that couldn't be helped. There were just too many wines for any one person to handle.

Of those wines I sampled, I found plenty of delicious and interesting ones, but I also disliked a number of those wines. Every year, I write about those wines which I most enjoyed, showcasing those worthy wines. However, which wines did I dislike at the Expo? Which wines did I think were "bad?"

Frankly, I'm not going to mention which wines I disliked. In general, the wines I disliked didn't conform to my own personal preferences, such as being too sweet or too oaky, but other people might enjoy them as they have different preferences. This is made clear at the wine store where I work, where I see plenty of people enjoying wines that I wouldn't drink because our preferences are different. Thus, I can't really say a wine is "bad," but rather that I didn't enjoy it though others might find pleasure in it.

At the Expo, I saw it as well, comparing favored wines with friends, and though we might agree on many of the wines, there would always be a few on which we differed. We all have our own personal preferences and that needs to be respected. Wineries often target certain groups of consumers, those who share certain preferences, and sometimes you might not be their intended audience. It won't be surprising then if you dislike that particular wine. The beauty of wine though is its immense diversity and that means there are wines for all preferences.

During the upcoming weeks, when I provide specific recommendations for the wines I most enjoyed at the Expo, I don't expect every reader will be in complete agreement with my choices. However, what is most important to me is trying to expose my readers to new and diverse wines, grapes and regions, to give them reasons to expand their palates. For example, I'll be highlighting a number of wines from the country of Georgia, as I sure many of my readers will know little about their wines, but I'm also sure they would enjoy them if they sampled them.

I want to embrace the positivity of my wine experiences from the Expo, rather than dwelling on the negative examples. And I fervently hope that my passion for the wines I will highlight will infect my readers and cause them to seek out at least some of those wines.