Wine Blogging Wednesday #32 announced…
I like the theme much better this time around. The Wine Cask blog is hosting the April edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW) and I think the topic is terrific! Here it is: Regular vs. Reserve.
Very interesting. I love comparative analyses in general, and when it comes to wine I love them even more. I still need to do my own WineKeeper “Keeper” vs. cork enclosure test, but that will have to wait. I’m also heading to Finland on April 14, so this WBW deadline of April 11 is perfect. It looks like I’ll need another WineKeeper Stopper Faucet, though, so I can preserve two bottles at the same time. How exciting!
Here are the WBW criteria for this “regular” vs. “reserve” challenge:
- Same winery
- Same vineyard (as much as is possible, I assume)
- Same vintage
Another consideration is whether the wines were aged for the same amount of time, and in the same types of barrels with the same levels of toast, etc. (this could be hard to control between a “regular” wine and a “reserve” wine). But something has to be different between a “regular” wine and a “reserve” wine, right? Otherwise, why label them differently? I know, I know, there are marketing considerations here, and price points, and assortment issues, and all the other characteristics that make the retail industry such a cutthroat business. Still, I don’t know if I can find two identical wines with different labels, but that’s not quite the point here.
So, which wineries interest me in terms of this particular challenge? That’s a good question as there are plenty of “regular” vs. “reserve” wines out there.
- Alexandria Nicole has a “regular” Destiny Ridge Viognier and a “reserve” edition of the same wine, but the “regular” is sold out. I’ll see if I can track it down locally, though.
- Lange, with their “regular” and “reserve” Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs. But they’re sold out and I have already tried at least one of these wines.
- Rex Hill, with their “regular” and “reserve” Pinot Noir selections.
- I’m wondering whether the Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley and Laurène Pinot Noirs would count, but they’re a little expensive and part of the purpose behind the WBW events is to try something new.
- St. Francis, with their Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel releases; again, though, there’s a problem because the “regular” wines have different vineyard sources, different aging times, different barrel preparations, different harvest times, etc. So are the “reserve” wines really all the comparable? They are essentially different wines; they might as well be from different wineries at that point.
In the end, I’ll probably just take my $100 gift certificate to EVS in Seattle and see which wines meet the criteria for this WBW. Ultimately, I get to decide which wine is “better” based on my own set of criteria. I think I’d simply use two criteria: Is the wine good for everyday consumption with dinner, and would it fit my limited budget? Those criteria seem fairly useful to me and my dear readers.