Question
What is the difference in production between a $3 bottle of wine and a $100 bottle? What constitutes such a huge price range?
What is the difference in production between a $3 bottle of wine and a $100 bottle? What constitutes such a huge price range?
Answer
In a word "complexity". Cheap wines have one or two dominant flavors and nothing else. If that is what you want then they are perfectly suitable. Great wines have subtle and nuanced aromas and flavors. An example: Imagine you are walking down a gravel road on a summer day. A field of freshly mown hay borders the road. Lemongrass grows along the fence. It rained about 45 minutes ago and you can still smell the earthy moldy sweetness of the rain on the hay. A truck goes by and kicks up dust on the gravel road. Smell the hay and the lemon and the earth and the dust? That is what a really good Beaune or Santenay white wine tastes like, and it is marvelous!
In a word "complexity". Cheap wines have one or two dominant flavors and nothing else. If that is what you want then they are perfectly suitable. Great wines have subtle and nuanced aromas and flavors. An example: Imagine you are walking down a gravel road on a summer day. A field of freshly mown hay borders the road. Lemongrass grows along the fence. It rained about 45 minutes ago and you can still smell the earthy moldy sweetness of the rain on the hay. A truck goes by and kicks up dust on the gravel road. Smell the hay and the lemon and the earth and the dust? That is what a really good Beaune or Santenay white wine tastes like, and it is marvelous!
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