About me
I grew up in West Los Angeles in the 50's and didn't really discover wine until my wife Linda and I moved to San Diego in 1981 after I graduated from UCLA with a PhD in biochemistry. Up to that point we had only experienced Mateus Rosé and a few easy-to-drink California Zinfandels and Merlots. We had however determined that our beverage-of-choice was wine.
In 1983 a colleague invited me to attend a wine tasting with his fellow eonophiles. I said "sure, I'd love to learn more about wine". These regular events were held in the very same building on the UCSD campus where I had done my stint as a post-doctoral fellow a few years earlier. When we arrived I was introduced and we all arranged our six glasses in front of us. Then the member who had been elected to put on this particular tasting placed six brown paper bag-wrapped bottles on the table and informed the group that we were tasting wines from the southern Rhône region. Panic set in immediately. I had never tasted wines from the Rhône and I had certainly never participated in a blind tasting. My first thought was that I would make a complete ass of myself.
The bottles were passed around and everyone poured a few ounces into the appropriate glass and began a careful (and quiet) analysis of the wines. I mimicked their behavior and wrote rather banal comments like "nice smell', "tastes good" and "yuck" while they all seem to be writing a treatise for each wine. After about 30 minutes someone asked "does everyone have scores?". Scores? Oh crap, I don't know how to score these wines. "Don't worry Eric, your scores won't count anyway" I was assured. At that time the group (which had been established in 1978) used a 20-point scale and after tallying the average score for each wine they were revealed from the lowest average score to the highest while everyone made comments relative to their ranking of the wines. I didn't have much to offer other than "I liked that one the most" (it wasn't the group favorite and I somehow felt inferior for not likeing that one at the time but this was my first realization that rating wine is a very personal and subjective undertaking).
Linda joined the group a few years later and our fascination with wine has grown ever since. Fast forward to 2005 when Linda and I moved to Oregon. We were living in Newberg and knew we wanted to open a wine store but had not yet determined where it should be: close to wine country or close to Portland? After 9 months of investigation we settled on Wilsonville and started Wine Xing, LLC with a focus to bring good quality wines to the community at a fair price.
In a few weeks we will mark our second anniversary and we truly appreciate the many friends we have made in the Wilsonville area and the Portland wine community.
A brief note on my qualifications to write about wine. Am I formally trained? No. Do I have a degree in enology. No. But I am well read on the subject and I continue to learn about the ever-expanding universe of wine through literature and by tasting wines. On average I taste between 50 and 100 new wines each week (it's a tough job but somebody has to do it J). Do I like all of the 800 or so wines that I have in the store? No, but the wines that I select are in my opinion well made, reflect good winemaking and will appeal to the group of customers that enjoy a particular style of wine.
Cheers.
In 1983 a colleague invited me to attend a wine tasting with his fellow eonophiles. I said "sure, I'd love to learn more about wine". These regular events were held in the very same building on the UCSD campus where I had done my stint as a post-doctoral fellow a few years earlier. When we arrived I was introduced and we all arranged our six glasses in front of us. Then the member who had been elected to put on this particular tasting placed six brown paper bag-wrapped bottles on the table and informed the group that we were tasting wines from the southern Rhône region. Panic set in immediately. I had never tasted wines from the Rhône and I had certainly never participated in a blind tasting. My first thought was that I would make a complete ass of myself.
The bottles were passed around and everyone poured a few ounces into the appropriate glass and began a careful (and quiet) analysis of the wines. I mimicked their behavior and wrote rather banal comments like "nice smell', "tastes good" and "yuck" while they all seem to be writing a treatise for each wine. After about 30 minutes someone asked "does everyone have scores?". Scores? Oh crap, I don't know how to score these wines. "Don't worry Eric, your scores won't count anyway" I was assured. At that time the group (which had been established in 1978) used a 20-point scale and after tallying the average score for each wine they were revealed from the lowest average score to the highest while everyone made comments relative to their ranking of the wines. I didn't have much to offer other than "I liked that one the most" (it wasn't the group favorite and I somehow felt inferior for not likeing that one at the time but this was my first realization that rating wine is a very personal and subjective undertaking).
Linda joined the group a few years later and our fascination with wine has grown ever since. Fast forward to 2005 when Linda and I moved to Oregon. We were living in Newberg and knew we wanted to open a wine store but had not yet determined where it should be: close to wine country or close to Portland? After 9 months of investigation we settled on Wilsonville and started Wine Xing, LLC with a focus to bring good quality wines to the community at a fair price.
In a few weeks we will mark our second anniversary and we truly appreciate the many friends we have made in the Wilsonville area and the Portland wine community.
A brief note on my qualifications to write about wine. Am I formally trained? No. Do I have a degree in enology. No. But I am well read on the subject and I continue to learn about the ever-expanding universe of wine through literature and by tasting wines. On average I taste between 50 and 100 new wines each week (it's a tough job but somebody has to do it J). Do I like all of the 800 or so wines that I have in the store? No, but the wines that I select are in my opinion well made, reflect good winemaking and will appeal to the group of customers that enjoy a particular style of wine.
Cheers.
Hey Eric,
I enjoyed reading your wine biography. It surely brings back memories of the UCSD wine tasting group. That group surely provided the development of my palate. I started making wine with some members of that group, when I lived in Poway. Now that I have been living in my home state of Washington, I've been producing tasty wines from both Oregon (pinot noir) and Washington (Cab Sauv., merlot, lemberger, Syrah, and Malbec. I've really enjoyed the winemaking experience and all that I have learned from it. Hope Linda and you can visit Desperation Ridge, some day.
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Eric-
I hope this is the place to ask you a question. I was wondering if you would ever do a wine tasting with a summer theme?
It seems that during the summer we do a lot of entertaining and seem to open quite a few bottles of wine. What I am looking for (and how do I put this in a politically correct wording?) are wines that are good, but wont break the bank if we end up opening 2 or 6 in a night.
As we all know, after 2 or 6 bottles, the last bottle, no matter the quality, seems to taste as good as the first one. ANd sometimes you don't need a mind blowing wine all the time, you just want a nice glass of wine on a hot summer day.
I am looking for a couple nice red and whites that would be $10-20. Ones that I can grab and not feel guilty. Would that be a good theme for a tasting one night or maybe on a saturday?
Thank you so much-
Michelle Tonkin
(Kerri Monello's next door neighbor)
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Michelle:
I think that's a great theme for a tasting and I'll put something together for next month. I quite agree that our palates are spent after a few bottles and it's a waste of money to be opening expensive wines when you want to just hang with your friends for some additional time.
Your comment regarding "mind-blowing" wines is apt too. I am working on another blog entry that discusses that very subject. My impression of many of our customers is that they expect every sip of wine to explode in their mouths. I too enjoy a nice glass of wine that isn't complicated or massive, especially with lighter fare or just sitting on the porch watching the sunset. Stay tuned!
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