I have returned to my roots. I grew up Italian... most of my relatives, (elder relatives), spoke only Italian. All of them made their own wine. Wine was a staple... lunch and dinner. During lunch we'd mix the wine with water... at dinner no. Desert was nearly always a pear, fig, or peach with a splash of wine on top. Delicious.
As I grew out of my teens I only drank red wine... couldn't stomach white wine WHICH, in those day, was always 'sweet'. Not all that long ago, 10 years perhaps, I was able to acquire a taste for some of the less sweet white wines... and began drinking as instructed, with fish, (seafood).. it worked, I still do that.
But my taste has always been and remained the more 'harsh', (if you will), reds. My wine making elders all gone now and with them went wine-making... although some elders in somewhat near towns still make their own, (it's delicious). 21Dog probably knows a few wine makers.
But that 'taste' of the homemade wines is what I crave and impossible to find today. Today's wines, nearly all of them, have that 'smooth' texture that is so popular with the palettes of today. The closest to what I grew up with are Chianti's.... not all from the Chianti region, obviously. (yes, my family comes from the Chianti region so our home mades here were very similar).
I don't drink much wine today... rarely in fact...very special occasions or the rare grand meal - - and I've given up experimenting because it's dumb. For me it's dumb. I like Chianti the best.. end of story, I buy Chianti... but it's getting harder and harder to find. So yeah, I do, often, have to get a Zin, Pinot, Cabernet... which are good, but not the same.
So my point... it ain't about which wine is best.. I don't believe such a thing exists, it's what you like... my point is: I don't think any of us lose that taste for what we grew up with. Not in drink, not in food. Most of my lunches I went to my aunts house and dined on homemade Italian food... but my Mom, when Italian food wasn't available, sometimes fed me lunch which was, invariably, Rainbow Bread, sliced Bologna, american cheese, lettuce. To this day, and forever more, I will have Bologna sandwiches often for lunch and even sometimes dinner. - JamesJM
