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Sipping Scene: Second opinions are always welcome

By TOM VALEO
Published December 14, 2005

People go to wine tastings to play the field, to sample and compare and maybe find something they might want to get to know a little better.

At a recent tasting at Pic Pac Fine Wine & Spirits in St. Petersburg, however, a lot of people apparently fell in love instantly with a 2003 shiraz and a 2004 cabernet sauvignon from McWilliam's Wines of Australia.

They took home every bottle, and asked owner Lee Neal when he would be getting more. Ironic, Neal noted, because he didn't like the wine the first time he tasted it.

"It had road shock," said Neal, who tasted the wine after it arrived by truck from Tampa warehouse. "Sometimes you have to let the wine settle down a little."

Because he only stocks wines that meet his approval, Neal planned to banish the two McWilliam's wines from his store, at least until a better vintage showed up, but Alice Porter, who works at Pic Pac, suggested he try them again.

This time he liked them enough to include both at one of his wine tastings, which he holds every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the shop, 6609 Central Ave. Before the event ended, customers had picked up every available bottle.

"She was right," Neal said of Porter's comment. "I can't know everything, so I listen to people when they tell me about wines they like."

The two wines come from McWilliam's Hanwood Estate in southeastern Australia, which produces the winemaker's more modestly priced wines. (Neal sells the shiraz and the cab for $9.99.)

At the tasting Friday, Neal will go upscale, featuring wines that cost at least $30 a bottle.

"For just $25, people get a chance to try some outstanding wines," said Neal, who has poured wines that cost more than $100 a bottle at upscale tastings, which he holds every few weeks.

"People say they can't tell the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and one that costs $30 or $50, but then they try these wines, they find out they can."

- Tom Valeo is a freelance writer based in St. Petersburg.

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 10:11:05]