Welcome

Welcome to The Wine Informant blog. My name is Ted Pawlikowski, and I'm just an ordinary guy who likes wine. I am not, nor have I ever been in the wine industry. I began drinking wine in the early 1970s and have been doing so ever since.

I started out humbly with wine. Someone told me that Gallo Hearty Burgundy was a great wine value so I tried it. And, to my surprise, I liked it. For my white I drank Gallo Dry Chablis. And I liked that as well.

Now, in the early 1970s there was no where near the selection of California wines that are available today. But I began to taste some of the popular brands of the day, many of which no longer exist. Some of the labels I enjoyed were Almanden, Christian Brothers, Louis Martini, and when I really wanted to splurge, Inglenook. I tried the Portuguese labels Lancers and Mateus, but they were not for me.

Then a friend served a Bordeaux with dinner one evening, and I began my love affair with French wines. Bordeaux was my favorite, but I also liked the wines of Burgundy and Chablis. Today I drink mainly California wines, but I have some favorite Italians as well. If I'm going to do a Pinot Noir, I will look to Oregon first.

Someone asked how I came to learn so much about wine, and my reply was I have tasted many wines for the past 35 plus years. As they say in any field, practice makes perfect.

My purpose with this blog is to share with you some of my wine experiences, with the hope that they may increase your enjoyment of your wine experiences as well. For instance, I will share with you what I liked and did not like about tastings I have attended, as well as some of the values I have found. As a close friend of mine once said, "any schmuck can look good serving a $150.00 bottle of wine. Your job is to find the $20.00 bottles that will make you look good.

Until next time,

Ted Pawlikowski