Non-pro wine writing should be done how?

originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by David Erickson:
Apparently, in certain circles, having the temerity to say that you do not particularly enjoy Coulée de Serrant is equivalent to being a climate change denier.
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Is that right?

Which circles are those?
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I forget that my meatspace is particular to itself. Asheville, NC, Chapel Hill NC, and Durham NC: It's not as extreme as it was in 2009, when places like Rue Cler got their entire lists from Damon at Centerba, who repped Louis/Dressner. But all the New Thing guys are still around: Jay Murrie, who bought for the late lamented 3Cups, is repping under the flag of Piedmont Wines, Les Doss (The Usual Suspects) is by now in exile at Hilton Head, Damon Haynes is at Proof Wine and Spirits. Andre Tamers from De Maison.

Anyway, I should not have generalized.
 
I like old Coulee de Serrant (80s) but I can certainly understand why it would not have universal appeal, even among the enlightened. Similarly, I'm also a big fan of Vitovska.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
This being my particular hobbyhorse, I will hereby ride it again. "Hedonist" is not a word that can properly describe wines of any kind, even the ones Keith thinks it does apply to.
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Aren't you a literature professor? Shouldn't you know that your radical literalism is the enemy of all that is creative and good about art and expression?
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In order for figural language to work, you have to know it's figural language. Misused language isn't the same thing. All misuse used frequently enough becomes use, of course. And sometimes the language becomes richer for it. Sometimes, though, not. While others fight the good fight for varieties, I ride the Stoic hobbyhorse out against the hordes who think hedonism is a quality of objects.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg: All misuse used frequently enough becomes use, of course. And sometimes the language becomes richer for it.
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Jonathan, Perhaps "varietals" is a misuse on this (fast?) track!?!

. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg: All misuse used frequently enough becomes use, of course. And sometimes the language becomes richer for it.
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Jonathan, Perhaps "varietals" is a misuse on this (fast?) track!?!

. . . . . . Pete
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Misusing varietal may indeed enter the language but I don't see how it makes the language richer. It's basically a typo/misunderstanding.

Referring to wine as hedonistic however is another way of looking at wine and broadens our conception of the process of drinking wine. It is also a very intuitive concept and shouldn't shock Professor Loesberg.
 
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originally posted by Cole Kendall:
Hey, I'm just glad that hedonic hasn't been used as a synonym for hedonistic.
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That reminds me of an ex-girlfriend who I once introduced to someone as Ann Hedonic. Fortunately, she was already ex- at that time.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg: All misuse used frequently enough becomes use, of course. And sometimes the language becomes richer for it.
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Jonathan, Perhaps "varietals" is a misuse on this (fast?) track!?!

. . . . . . Pete
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Misusing varietal may indeed enter the language but I don't see how it makes the language richer. It's basically a typo/misunderstanding.

Referring to wine as hedonistic however is another way of looking at wine and broadens our conception of the process of drinking wine. It is also a very intuitive concept and shouldn't shock Professor Loesberg.
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I fail to see how mistaking hedonists for the wine they drink to experience their pleasure is an intuitive concept. It's a basic category mistake.

The confusion of varietal and variety follows a basic linguistic pattern of turning adjectives into nouns. It's aided by a special noun usage developed for wines fairly recently and further aided by the delusory notion among certain wine geeks that it sounds like a term of art. I dearly hope that Pete is wrong and it isn't on this fast track but, fortunately, the standard biological use of the term variety will always keep it from spreading too far. I expect the same thing is true of "hedonist." The mistake will have little reason to appeal to those who don't speak wine geek so the usage will always be confined. In other words, I don't much see the hedonist who frequents a restaurant confused with the dish he or she eats and I really don't expect to. The reason for avoiding both terms, therefore, really has nothing to do with what will happen to English but whether you want to speak English or not.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

I fail to see how mistaking hedonists for the wine they drink to experience their pleasure is an intuitive concept. It's a basic category mistake.
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Hedonism is about pleasure. If you don't see a lot of pleasure in wine, perhaps you're drinking the wrong category.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

I fail to see how mistaking hedonists for the wine they drink to experience their pleasure is an intuitive concept. It's a basic category mistake.
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Hedonism is about pleasure. If you don't see a lot of pleasure in wine, perhaps you're drinking the wrong category.
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I get pleasure from wine. The wine doesn't experience pleasure. But now we're going around in circles.

Having signed on to Parker's use of hedonism (I do believe this is his coinage), you're now accusing me of not getting pleasure from wine because I don't use the word like you and he do? Next I'll be the jihadist anti-pleasure police whereas I'm really just the grammar pedant.
 
Allowing that a hedonist wine is out of the question, a lurker writes to ask if hedonistic would not be correct usage, for a wine that appeals to hedonists?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Allowing that a hedonist wine is out of the question, a lurker writes to ask if hedonistic would not be correct usage, for a wine that appeals to hedonists?
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I prefer the term to describe the philosophical tenets held by hedonists. I really have never seen what is gained by this term with regard to wine. Are there wines one would choose to drink that don't give pleasure? I also think there's an ideological content to the term as used by Parker and others. Since it doesn't really distinguish pleasure-giving wines from other kinds of pleasure-giving wines, it must be there to denote wines that are somehow devoted to giving pleasure as opposed to those wines that might evoke intellectual interest or the jihadi devotion of the anti-pleasure police. I don't know about you, but if I find a wine positively distasteful, I stop drinking it.
 
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