Side by Side

 I'm sure you have a favorite wine, or at least a group of favorite wines. If you are like a typical wine drinker, at least in the US since I can't speak as well for typical outside of the US, my guess is that at least one of those is a fairly pricey wine. I'd like you to consider whether it is really that good or whether you have been swayed by the name and the price.

How is it that you are going to do that? Start by remembering what you paid for that wine or at least ballpark what you paid for it. Look at the vintage on the bottle because the last thing you want to do is to compare a mature wine to a youthful wine. My recommendation for this, if you have it available, is to not choose a particularly aged wine, but not an immature one either. So, varying by the style of wine, for example, choose a bottle with roughly five years on it, perhaps a bit less for most white wines (but not all) than for red).

Now, remembering what you paid for that bottle and knowing something about the style, find a wine shop with a big, diverse selection. Get some help if you need it, but target four to six bottles that are roughly half the price of the one you just love. And, seek out ones with higher ratings or "manager's recommendations." 

Bring them home for the test next week or month so that the bottles have time to settle. Store them as properly as you store your favorite. And, perhaps gather a few friends. 

On the big day, open all the bottles at least an hour, maybe more, before you plan to serve them. Have a good supply of neutral palate cleansers (oyster crackers, for example) in little bowls for each person. And, make sure that each person has penty of water available.

Serve each person a pour (an ounce or two of each should be plenty) of each of the wines numbering them. The bottles should be in brown paper bags or the like so as to disguise them. All you will know is that you are pouring wine #1 or #2, for example, and mark each glass with a wine glass marker or other distinguishing way.

Each person should have a piece of paper with the numbers of each bottle/glass on them and space to make notes and give a rating. I would suggest a scale from 1 to 20, but you may use your own if you like. Numbers are better than letters because numbers are easier to average. In between tastes, make sure that each person consumes some water and palate cleansing crackers. Do not serve any other food with this as the food will affect the wine.

After each person has made their notes and given their rankings, average them for each wine. And, pay attention to your own ratings separately. Look at the group winner or winners and your own. Then go back to the bottles and unveil each wine. My guess is that your pre-conceived favorite has not won in your rankings or the group rankings. And, remembering back to how we had you do this, your favorite likely cost about half of what your favorite did.

Buy wisely in the future.