First of all, you dont have to be a profesional to be able to say what is a good wine and what is a bad wine; all you have to have, really, something to compare it to. However, what makes a good wine and who is to decide the value of it?

People who are even slightly interested in wine for sure heard the French term “teroir” which mainly determines the locallity of the vineyards; they believe that´s where the wine is made above all.

Winemaking is art and science, whilst science is nature and chemistry, something that cant be bent; the art of the winemaker is how well he/she understands the nature and treats the science. Nonetheless, you can be the best winemaker in the world but if your vineyeards are based in the wrong place, the wines never will be good.

Above all, there is also an industry that dictates a lot of what is good and what is bad. But wine industry is just like any other industry where prestige and reputation of the region and the winemaker or even a grape of fashion, determine the value of wine and something that would´ve been called “good” or even “excellent”. Just because you dont know about a region or a winemaker it doesnt mean the wine is not good enough; a lot of great wines are getting overlooked for those reasons.

Alltogether, the first purpose of winemaking should never be driven by desire to earn. Regardless of any recognition, true winemakers will keep going on producing what they think are good wines, because it is their life, their job, that is what they love, and when you do what you love, you tend to do it in the best posible way and that is when you succeed. Simple.

If you want to taste a good wine book a wine tour with Castlexperience.