I've recently been suffering from wine drinker's ennui, that strange affliction that makes most wines — even your favorites — seem uninteresting & ordinary. I started a palate rehabilitation program and as I had been drinking a lot of American wines, I followed these steps.

Step one: Cut down on American & new world wines & increase intake of old world, primarily French wines.

I jumped right into this step & went for the French, hoping to get rid of this affliction quickly. I cracked open the Montvac Cotes du Rhone that's been in my wine rack for a couple months. I have enjoyed this wine before & I know I like it's style & range of flavors. My palate perked up a bit during the first glass. What I had been missing most was right up front — that great old-world earthiness, a really evident terroir. And with it's supple texture & berry notes, I felt confident that the Montvac had cured me. But by the second glass, the ennui returned. Every sip seemed to lay on my tongue like Gogurt, and everything seemed disjointed. I was truly sick & needed to up my presciption.

Step two: Drink wines from less common regions or from less common grapes, or both.

I bought a bottle of the Hai Cabernet from Israel & the Erste & Neue Schiava from Alto Adige, Italy for a party I was supposed to go to (I didn't even want to *give* ordinary wine anymore). When I ended up not going to the party, I quickly opened the Schiava, knowing, again, that this is a wine I have enjoyed & it's from a region I love. It's an interesting wine as soon as you pour it, as the color is unlike most wines. It's definitely darker than most rosés, but lighter than most reds. It is beautifully floral on the nose & that's about the last time I saw this wine. It is dangerously easy to drink & I could barely keep my glass full. It's a very fruity wine & the fruit is balanced out with an interesting slight nuttiness that I noticed as the wine raced down my gullet. I was definitely on the road to recovery, but just to make sure, I went on to step three.

Step Three: Drink a higher quality wine from a reputable region.

I had a bottle of 2004 Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer that I'd been holding for a few years. This is a $25-35 bottle from Alsace that I've had a few times before. I was making Indian food which is usually an ideal pairing with Gewurztraminer, so I was going all or nothing. I poured the beautiful blonde yellow wine into the glass and caught a whiff of those enchanting Alsatian scents — nutmeg, jasmine, honeysuckle. I took my first sip & I could feel the ennui slipping away for good. This wine was intricate & nuanced and demanded my attention. There was so much good in this wine, a 750ml bottle seemed like a bad tease, but it was a big enough dosage to solve my problem.

Now that I'm cured, I'm following a regimen of somewhat eccentric wines & soon I will be able to drink a wine from anywhere and enjoy it again. If you too are sick with winedrinker's ennui, the doctor's office hours are every Wednesday from 5:30-8:30pm.

Labels: american, french, israeli, italian, reds, whites