My world of wine exists for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of hundreds of others who  sip, pair and socializing with a glass of wine in our hands.  I recently read a books entitled “The Billionaires Vinegar” which tells the story of the other world of wine; the one of excesses, deceit and collection for collections sake.  The story, half history and half memoir revolves around the sale of a cache of Chateaux Lafite from the 1870s belonging to Thomas Jefferson found in the 1960’s and sold at auction in London.  Not much of a page turner, but when they discovered it to be a fraud, the story brightens a lot.  The amazing excesses that surround the wine auction and collector’s world feigns reality, but strikes right at the heart of todays wine industry and it’s simplicity and genuine nature.  This dichotomy defines the two worlds of wine; mine and he Billionaires

The Washington Post reported last week that a Swiss Auction house pulled numerous lots of 1980’s Burgundy from it’s sale amid allegations that some or all of it was in fact fake.  Why create fakes when there is so much great wine out there to enjoy?  It seems, like identity theft, that picking on the “haves” is an okay way to redistribute the wealth.  Sadly with a supply of the right paper stock, a good color laser copier, a supply of bottles, properly stamped corks and the right foil, faking rare wine is not that hard.  We now have a whole industry devoted to sleuthing out fake wines.

My point in all this; Poor Robert’s is about wine that the masses can enjoy and not have to worry whether the wine we review is real or fake.  I know if I like a wine, I know if it’s a good wine and one that can stand a little more age before drinking, but in the end they will all be consumed, not collected for profit, maybe for fun, but never for profit.  My world of wine features the winemakers that actually toil in the wine sheds making real wine for real people. It’s about the real people who buy wine on line, in wine shops or supermarkets and do it just to enjoy the taste and society that a nice affordable bottle of wine bring.  To those who turn their noses up at  affordable wines because they lack a perfect balance, I shed a tear.  they have missed the true joy of wine; the seeking, the finding and most of all experiencing new and different flavors and sensations.

To the real wine drinkers, I say rejoice as you represent the best of Today’s wine world, those who enjoy for the sake of enjoyment and not for the sake of appearing better than someone else, just because you can.