the only wine i will wake up in the morning and try to remember

So all of you who know me and know my friends--that vast and elaborately entwined circle--will know who this is, whose post I'm putting up here.  He was my year in High School.  He's very very smart.  He's a doctor.  He's perhaps insane?  But maybe that's just how smart he is?

Also he knows A LOT about wine.  As in, could be a professional sommelier tomorrow, if he wanted to.  And has been collecting--seriously collecting--since the early 90s.

Which means, as I've gotten more and more into wine, he's the one I always email.  (He's also the person, in middle school, who introduced me to a) David Bowie and b) Bob Dylan.  And then, much later, to c) Tarkovsky.  So, probably three of my five greatest artistic heroes--and it's because of him I know about them!)

Anyway, I email him a lot about wines--which ones to buy, if my wine dealer is giving me good prices or not, etc. [That's right.  I have a wine dealer!  I'm the narrator of Brideshead Revisited!]

So after a lot of recent back and forth about all sorts of wine-relates stuff (BTW--on Esquire network, the show Uncorked is highly worth watching) he just sent me this.  Which I'm posting just because it's so good.  And perfectly summarizes everything that's wonderful about this person.

And also because, smart as he is, and as good as is his taste (i.e.: impeccable) I'm pretty sure this is 100% correct:


my biggest concern is whether 2015 white burgundy prices are going to be higher or lower than 2012. that is my main concern.... :p'

it's just so funny - what i'm saying is... the idea of concerning myself with all these inferior wines is just - well - i don't have the time frankly ? i already know what the best wine is - it's burgundy. the end. ??? red and white. and there's enough there that you can spend 100% of your attention and still not know enough... so.. um... albarino? what is that? lol. no but really. even bordeaux is kind of a joke compared to burgundy. there is no other wine as good as burgundy. full stop. red and white. it's the best wine in the world. end of story. i'm simply trying to figure out who is going to make the best wine in 2015. and how much i should spend on grand cru versus 1er cru. that's about the only issue.

everything else is totally easy. you buy the requisite amount of italian and bla bla. but there's nothing difficult about that. the critics are basically all correct about italian wine. except the one issue is that most people don't let it age long enough or air out long enough when opening. etc. there's some basics. everyone drinks barolo and amarone and brunello about 5-10 years too soon. but that's not complicated. what's complicated is trying to figure out whose white burgundy will age well or not. where the value is. if there is any. there are subtleties in burgundy that are confounding even for people who have a basic idea. it's the only region in the entire world of wine which is genuinely difficult to fully grasp.

my evidence: there is an entire publication called burghound. there are multiple publications entirely devoted to burgundy. there's a reason for that. other wines bring appropriate pleasure. certain bordeaux do fetch extreme prices. okay. but the only wine that i will wake up in the morning and try to remember and second guess and just sit there and ponder... days later.. weeks later.. is burgundy. it genuinely taxes your intellect. there is no other region in the world of wine which can do that. :) fin.