Sour Grapes Page #2

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it's really mostly men.

Especially when I was younger,

I'd walk into the tastings and everybody

would immediately ask,

you know, whose date I was.

But I had an important job.

I ran a major auction house in New York.

I bought like $50,000 worth of champagne

in the last auction,

for one of my clients

'cause his daughter's getting married.

It was 2000 or early 2001.

We were doing auctions

and I started being aware of this kind of,

you know, skinny, geeky young guy

that liked wine.

...for 2,600.

At the time he was somebody

that was bidding on Pahlmeyer Merlot.

Pahlmeyer Merlot sticks out

in my mind with Rudy.

You know, a high quality wine,

but, you know,

it's got one zero, not four zeros.

Now 16, 17, $1,800,

1,800 for the single bottle

of La Tche, 1985.

1,800, $1,800 bid. At 18...

What was really strange

was 18 months later

he reached out to me on the telephone

and said that he wanted to meet with me

because he wanted to be a player

in the auction scene,

which I found kind of odd

because he had just been

a geeky kid drinking Californian Merlot.

-Hey, what's up, Rudy?

-Hey, what's up, man?

-How are you doing?

-How are you, man?

-Very well.

-Good, good, good.

I brought some wines for us to drink.

Can you help me with this?

His breadth of knowledge seemed

to be pretty extraordinary.

He actually taught me, you know,

almost everything I know.

He was a real cult figure

and everybody talked about him.

My friend.

He had this mysterious background.

Where did he come from?

Part of what created his mythology

was he had an extraordinary...

Who has an extraordinary palate.

The best palate of anyone

I've ever met in my entire life.

Any wine, from California to France,

any type of wine, any vintage.

Rudy was extremely, insanely,

unbelievably correct on all the wines.

The art of blind tasting,

it comes naturally,

but you have to make an effort.

You know, you really have to work at it.

You taste wine blind,

you identify the wine,

and you know, that's the badge of honour

for a sommelier.

You do a little swirl and just see

if there's anything with the alcohol.

Looking at the legs,

how slow or fast they fall.

Smell it, and then it kind of just

tingles off senses to your brain.

And then you look through

your rolodex in your mind

of all these different wines

you've tasted.

And I'm thinking, "What could this be?"

I think a wine palate

is very similar to athletic ability.

Sorry.

Wine tasting is a lot about

knowing the vocabulary

and being able to express,

using that vocabulary,

to other wine tasters

what it is that you're experiencing.

I totally get that peppery citrus

that you're talking about.

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