I simply love wine. Virginia Madsen’s character, Maya, does a memorable job summing up several reasons to love wine in the film Sideways and I heartily concur with all of them.

We held a double-blind tasting the other day focusing only on Pinots covering price points from $8.95 to over $150. Most participants used a simple 1-5 scale on four loosely defined characteristics: sight, smell, taste… and something else I can’t remember.

I opted to use the more wordy “tasting notes” approach.

No matter how you slice it, the winner of the popular vote was:

Yup, that’s right, the $9 bottle “beat” the $150 bottle. I confess I too ranked it first when pressed to pick, but it’s important to remember most people don’t choose Richard III when thinking about taking in a play. And this is precisely what the winemaker for Loon is looking to create, a product that will appeal to the most people possible.

Here are my notes:

#1: Light bouquet hinting at nutmeg. Bright garnet. Sweet start with a feather-light mouthfeel. Bright cherry overwhelms other fruits. Mild spice. Young, but not promising. A tad hot.

#2: Strong, dark bouquet. Mid ruby. Soft start that quickly goes tart. No spice. Light, but firm mouthfeel. Dry, lingering finish. Not Californian?

#3: Very light bouquet, almost faint. Bright ruby. Very light in color. Confused. No clear fruit statement. Sour finish.

#4: Light orangey color. Unclear, sour bouquet. Oily mouthfeel with no clear fruit expression. Sour finish. Lowest rating thus far. Possibly damaged. Heat?

#5: Mid ruby color. Intense nutmeg bouquet. Light oily mouthfeel. Sweet start gives way to strong spice mix of pepper and nutmeg. Turns sour on the lingering finish. Strongest flavors thus far. Californian?

#6: Bright garnet color like #1. Sour start that is also not clearly defined. Firm, dry mouthfeel due to alcohol? Check label, bet it’s hot. No clear fruit throughout.

#7: Mid ruby. Peppery bouquet. Sweet start. Light oil on the palette. Seems hot. Soft finish. On second tasting cherry/chocolate notes appear with tart edge at the finish. Complicated. Spend time with this one.

So i’m going to toot my horn a bit here. First, i was correct about #2: It was a Sineann New Zealand Pinot. Second I nailed #4 as it had indeed been exposed to very high temperatures in our host’s cellar during a forest fire that nearly claimed their house. I also called #5 correctly as it was a Russian River Pinot. #7 was the second most expensive and was my second favorite. I stand by my statement that it requires more than just one tasting.

Smoking Loon took the popular vote, but overall #7 stirred the most conversation. I think #7 was a Martinelli, but could be wrong. Good wine refuses to be ignored. Rather than inspiring a fatuous session of one-upping each other as to who can come up with the more obscure ways to reference the experience of the wine, it feels more like you’re talking about the characteristics of an old friend.

Wine is like cinema: both are the product of myriad factors all, in the final analysis, determined by one person. Good wine, like good cinema, resists being reduced to “i liked it” or “i didn’t like it.” Rather experiencing  good wine or good cinema affects in a way that draws words out of you; you want to talk about it.

And let us not forget, “it tastes so fucking good.”