Non-pro wine writing should be done how?

P

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey
I saw someone say that tasting notes are "useless" and that people should instead write about wine.

Here is a serious question. Take an individual who samples a wine that he is unfamiliar with (and doesn't have time to do research on).

For someone like this who tastes a wine and wants to comment on his experience, what is he expected to say about the wine other than what he observes in the way of a tasting note?

. . . . . . Pete
 
Please bring that "someone" in front of politburo tribunal immediately.

absolutely - that person should write about the experience, circumstances, context, the meal, the dress his girlfriend had on that compelled the cellarmaster to open 5 older vintages of la tache, whatever - and that would be valid, interesting, and useful in its own way.

That is not the complaint. It's about formulaic tasting notes, no matter how accurate, which do not help the reader to develop his/her own value system.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
Non-pro wine writing should be done how?
I saw someone say that tasting notes are "useless" and that people should instead write about wine.

Here is a serious question. Take an individual who samples a wine that he is unfamiliar with (and doesn't have time to do research on).

For someone like this who tastes a wine and wants to comment on his experience, what is he expected to say about the wine other than what he observes in the way of a tasting note?

. . . . . . Pete
Click to expand...

Some people should be seen and not heard.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
Non-pro wine writing should be done how?
I saw someone say that tasting notes are "useless" and that people should instead write about wine.

Here is a serious question. Take an individual who samples a wine that he is unfamiliar with (and doesn't have time to do research on).

For someone like this who tastes a wine and wants to comment on his experience, what is he expected to say about the wine other than what he observes in the way of a tasting note?

. . . . . . Pete
Click to expand...
But Joe's comment wasn't about what THAT type of 'someone' should do -- it's about what other someones, who are intensely knowledgeable and full of interesting ideas, should do. It's a shame that they should have to spend so much energy on the same type of exercise that, as you rightly point out, anybody can do.
 
I remember years ago on the now-defunct NVN wine board, a particular prominent (read: loud) poster began to sometimes be critical of some of the tasting notes that were being being posted. This elicited a quick response among the multitude.

The consensus among all the other posters was that even poorly styled tasting notes are valuable as long as they represent accurate and unbiased observations.

. . . . . . Pete
 
"The consensus among all the other posters was that even poorly styled tasting notes are valuable as long as they represent accurate and unbiased observations."

As strong an argument against tasting notes as I've seen. Blind thanking the blind for leading them.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

I remember years ago on the now-defunct NVN wine board, a particular prominent (read: loud) poster began to sometimes be critical of some of the tasting notes that were being being posted. This elicited a quick response among the multitude.

The consensus among all the other posters was that even poorly styled tasting notes are valuable as long as they represent accurate and unbiased observations.
Click to expand...

Pete,
You should get ahold of Eric Asimov's "How to Love Wine" and read the chapter entitled "The Tyranny of the Tasting Note." For all I know, you might be able to find it online somewhere. In any event, therein is couched an eloquent and good-natured critique of the tasting note as a means of communicating anything meaningful about a wine, at least in the "fruit basket" mode as currently practiced in this country. I have my own doubts about the utility of the metaphorical school that held sway in the UK in times past.

Mark Lipton
 
You all will be sorry when the tasting note is gone. Instead, you will get Everyman's version of agriculture, fashion, and 'Dear Diary' entries, and you will realize that you have sold yourself out to reading lifestyle magazine articles all the time.
 
Good point! Poor choice of words on my part!

By "unbiased" I meant to refer to people without known or undisclosed financial interests.

By and large on wine boards, the posters are fairly wine-knowledgeable (or better). Over time it is easy to become familiar with posters' preferences and palates and thus know how to qualify their writings.

. . . . . . Pete
 
Really, I don't find my dear friend John Gilman's "lemon notes and beeswax" much more useful than my dear friend Josh Raynolds' "Spicy pear and Meyer lemon aromas are complemented by honey, chamomile, and anise."

Ripeness, acidity, complexity, structure, drinkability. Those tell me something. What Joe Dressner used to call Heinz 57 Flavors, not so much.

Sometimes smells stand out.

But the tasting note genre is a stylistic and communicative dead end, IMO. Twenty flavors followed by a number, no thanks. And you mostly have to read between the lines to figure out that what was intended was, "a soupy oaky viscous mess." Or, "thin and sour, but SFJoe will like it."

Whether done by the village idiot or someone of vast tasting experience, the literary form should be banned.
 
originally posted by Todd Abrams:
What Joe said. Plus more sex and violence.
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no, that would also involve having to read between the lines, from Josh Raynolds that is
 
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