I find myself drawn to drinking a few style of wines from a few varietals. I reach for wines within a pretty limited range over fairly long stretches of time, say three or four months. For the last four months, I have been drinking a ton of big ripe California Pinot Noir, cooler climate Cali Syrah, and a little mountain grown Cabernet. I hate to look at it this way, but have I fallen into a rut? I hope not because I am still enjoying these wines from a sensory experience. I am getting exactly what I want. But there is a lingering doubt hanging over my head. Should I be opening other stuff? Should I care?
The definition of a Rut:
1. A sunken track or groove made by the passage of vehicles.
2. A fixed, usually boring routine.
Sunken track or groove? So, is my wine drinking falling into a fixed, usually boring routine. I can argue no with ease. It is not boring! Good, I was getting worried. What about fixed? If I focus on that side, I might, in fact, be in a wine rut.
My problem is I am not drinking broadly enough. Rick and I talk about Italian wines all the time at work. When I get home and raid my cellar, Italy accounts for about 14% of my cellar (love cellar tracker!), and I find myself picking up a Loring Pinot Noir. For every 100 bottles in my cellar 14 of them would be Italian and I can’t tell you the last time I opened a bottle! Why? No, really, why? I don’t have an answer. I like Italian wines and like to drink them but I find myself making excuses or finding some else that catches my eye first.
France accounts for a whopping 41% of my cellar (not including new arrivals). 41%! It is the largest segment in my cellar and, while the last two bottles consumed were a Chablis and a Gigondas, it may have been 5 months or so before that . . . I love red Burgundy (as a lot of you know) which accounts for 17% of my cellar (more than Italy as a whole). I haven’t had a bottle of red Burgundy for months!
Right now, I am just not excited about other wines. This is not like me. So, I need help! What do you do when you fall into a “rut?” How do you break out?
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