I admit I love a delicious wine more than many. If you are you also a wine lover, would you rather have a wine you love or one that is a great example of a style that you cannot stand? Give me a brilliant Napa Cabernet Sauvignon or Châteauneuf-du-Pape any day, but even the best Pinot Grigio might not be my thing.

A few years ago, Trish and I took an amazing to trip to South Africa. While at a vineyard tasting some wines, another couple mentioned wildfires that had impacted some vineyards in Australia due to all of the smoke. One of them laughed and said Americans still thought the wine was good. (They probably thought we were Canadian…we got that a lot, eh.) It seemed odd that you should not enjoy a wine because the vines were exposed to smoke, instead of figuring out whether you liked the taste. Ignorance really can be bliss.

Art seems a bit like this as well. A lot of contemporary art seems ridiculous, but people are sure to rave about it due to the famous artist or the fact that it is novel. Sometimes an art piece does seem clever or interesting, but then I see the artist did 5 more on the same theme and it loses the element of surprise that made it work for me. Maybe the artist was exploring some idea, but does that make it automatically worth sharing or revering? I think not.

I can appreciate something as a great expression of style, skill or technique. When it comes to what I enjoy, however, I let my taste be the judge.

Do you judge things by your own taste or by what is supposed to be good?