VinePair: We Asked 12 Wine Pros: What's the Most Overrated Wine?

By: Rich Manning, VinePair, December 17, 2024

A wine professional’s foundational goal is to make others happy. The restaurant sommelier aims to recommend a bottle that best enhances a guest’s dining experience. The wine educator strives toward helping their clientele determine the varieties and styles they enjoy the most. The bottle shop proprietor seeks to satisfy customers by pointing them toward bottles that fit an intended mood and align with their sensibilities.

In each scenario, success comes from the wine pro setting their own preferences aside for the good of others. This noble gesture comes with a caveat: The wine they’re recommending may be a label, variety, or style that they find to be a bit overrated. They’ll still suggest the wine if they believe it will please the customer or guest, but they may not necessarily be thrilled with doing so.

“While terroir is an essential aspect of winemaking, the romanticized notion that it solely defines a wine’s quality can overshadow the winemaker’s skill and choices. It’s important to recognize that both factors contribute to the final product.” —Grant Hewitt, vice president beverage, Loews Hotels & Co., NYC.

Read the full article here.