agents of ease and their occasional value

agents of ease and their occasional value

There are wines meant to be agents of ease, of breeziness, aimed to step easily into the realm of universality. Wines relatively incomplex, but not in the way of rusticity--they are polished by the seasoned winemaker's hand-- and whose simplicity is meant to be congenial and popularized. Yes, of course if one asks a critic of the whole New World domain, he would contend that this is the primary fault; that New World wineries collectively create, force wines that are homogenized and decorated and bastardized by the villainized 'flying winemaker'. Okay, sure. This condition does in fact exist. Does it mean that all New World wines are tainted by the insipid influence of a great equalizer? My understanding is that absolutely not. Having said this, the aforementioned wines that are crafted to live as amenable sources of pleasure for many, to elude a highbrow existence--these certainly have their place at the table.

 This I understand; even for myself, wine needn't always be a focal point of an event. Even with the obsessive approach to wines I have--with which there is always a careful unpacking, a multifaceted inquest, and by the virtue of wine itself also there is an urge to place it in a bookish, cerebral context--with this inquest am I always at once searching for pure hedonism, pure deliciousness.

Without treading into the treatise of a case I make for wine, I find there is a general trifecta of components for the wine lover: the pedantic aspect, the indulgent aspect of allurement, and lastly, the pacifying aspect. It would be silly and hypocritical to dismiss the third aspect; indeed, wine is an agent of ease and one to create shared empathy. It is this aspect I would assign to those wines I initially described. I do not mean the guileless, crude exuses for 'wine' that also occupy the wine market--[with which pacification and pure booziness seem to be the only function--] but the wines that are in fact of high quality and polish but intended to be approachable. Wines like this are ideal candidates for a breadth of wine-by-the-glass lists; as clearly most lists like this are meant to be liberally appealing. I found recently that Ghost Pines creates a merlot that falls into this camp.

It is easy to understand this result by considering the inclusive, open-knit approach the winery itself assumes. Self identified as 'unharnessed, freeform', Ghost Pines follows the historic lead of the Louis M. Martini Napa winery by eschewing the limits of AVA--American Viticultural Area--specfic viticulture, and instead selecting grapes based on their inherent quality instead of their geographical specificity. That is, the wines are blends of grapes from various appellations around California with the objective to simply be enjoyable. The past few vintages of Ghost Pines merlot include Napa and Sonoma grapes; the wine is fresh, easy, and amenable.

Similarly, the wine list at Half Shell Oyster House in Gulfport seems to be crafted around the value of congeniality in a selection of wines; in the company of this merlot are the likes of Sonoma Cutrer chard and MacMurray pinot-- certainly high quality, but broadly embraced.

Ghost Pines merlot accompanied my evening as that agent of ease and polished simplicity-- not as a focal point of pedantic examination. Smooth, smooth merlot, with slick blackberry flavors, some dark fruits and a sweet milk chocolate-like presence, just kissed with a lift of acidity and tame with muted tannins. An ideal wine for a by-the-glass list [especially in an underdeveloped wine market]: friendly, softening, and absent pretension.