Why that great wine drunk on holiday disappoints at home
From Retsina to Ansonica, very often the relaxed context in which we drink a wine enhances its characteristics, but the same bottles uncorked elsewhere lose their charm
3' min read
3' min read
How much does context influence the appeal of a wine? It happens to fall in love with wines tasted in their area of origin, return home and try them again without finding the same appeal. On how many occasions have you left a wine cellar enthusiastically - perhaps visited on holiday - convinced that you had found the wine of a lifetime, the bottle to marry forever? Then once you get home the same wine - go figure - suddenly becomes something else (and it's not the fault of the transport that has thrown it off and compromised the aromas). Here, it is not the journey that is the problem, it is the context in which you tried it that has changed.
To quench the nosy urge to know where someone has been on holiday without having to ask, just take a look at the requests they make to wine merchants or innkeepers in September, when business starts up again. A large number of customers, in fact, yearn to savour again the new and intoxicating tastes experienced during the summer holidays. But let's go into the details together.
The Retsina wins the ranking by a landslide, almost always a lousy wine that, however, when drunk at sunset on a Greek island next to the new flirt of the summer (true love or whatever), can remind one of a Montrachet by Drc. Pardon the playful hyperbole. This is followed closely by requests for Vermentini of high concentration maple syrup style, also recalled by the nuance of the colour that - just offhand - I would suggest spreading on pancakes in the morning at breakfast, were it not for the alcoholic degree that brings it closer to white Vermouth. And here's the tip: try it as a base for a Martini cocktail variation, but don't tell me you weren't on holiday in Costa Smeralda.
When the request falls on the Ansonica, go for sure: the person was on holiday between Elba Island and Giglio. Again, most of the time it is not an unforgettable white, but if drunk in Capoliveri or at sunset in Campese it can evoke a great Loira.
How beautiful Liguria is! Costa Paradiso, Camogli, Punta Chiappa, San Fruttuoso and more. Green corners of paradise with excellent Pigato and Rossese di Dolceacqua that are very popular when you come back from your holidays. But then for the rest of the year, no one wants to go back.
