The Tasting Note is Dead

Problem: wine is intimidating.
Solution: create a short cut to make it less so.

Over the past thirty years wine sales have risen every year.
Consumers seem to be getting buy.

Best, Jim
 
His real target is reviewing a wine. Tasting notes as a mode of communication among geeks on a bored, for instance, wouldn't be affected by this critique, unless the writer has the desire to review rather than report. And, the fact is, reviewers write reviews because it is what most people want to read. Maybe they shouldn't want to read them, but they do.
 
Dreary scores and tasting notes are of little long-term use to consumers. What they need most are inspiration and liberation.
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Pretty weak premise. Just like with anything, care must be taken as to where one should look for advice.

. . . . Pete
 
It's odd that he doesn't even mention one of the major barriers to reviewing wines in terms of flavor descriptors, as a service to consumers - the extremely high variance in sensitivities and flavor associations among people. I guess you could say it's implied by his reasoning, but many people still don't know about this. Or at least they act that way.
 
In a world where reviewers do not write TNs, what is left?:
a. They can read the label for me ...the grape is an old Languedoc cultivar called Feckless Gouais, a favorite wine of Philip the Pusillanimous in the 14th century
b. They can join the merry throngs of middlemen ...Try it! You'll like it!
c. They can revert to the oh-so-useful older style of writing ...really quite very fine indeed

My introduction to wine criticism was just exactly what he poo-poos: I stumbled across a pocket-sized guide to wine written by Steve Tanzer. I tried a few and I understood what he wrote, and I was curious to see more (because one has only so many dollars and so much time).

I think Asimov elucidates Problem A but provides the solution to Problem B.
 
Implicit in this critique is the idea that the consumer has the resources to explore wine on their own, enabling them to establish their own tastes. However, for many Americans wine is a special occasion beverage and they may have to purchase a bottle with little to no experience with wine. These people are not going to be able to draw upon their own experiences to choose a wine; they must perforce rely on someone else's opinion, be that a retailer's, Eric Asimov's or RMP's.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
However, for many Americans wine is a special occasion beverage and they may have to purchase a bottle with little to no experience with wine.
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This is - in a nutshell - the problem. The US is not anything like many Old World wine-producing countries where the question "Are you having wine with your dinner?" is frankly absurd.

That said, the solution is not wine reviews but rather relying on a David Lillie or Lou Amdur to "get" what you like and what you don't and then recommend stuff you will like. 'Course that assumes a level of consumption that is foreign to most Americans.
 
The consumer who buys a bottle of wine only on special occasions may well never have heard of Parker and certainly does not read reviews other than in newspaper columns on wine. They also can't rely on someone in a wine store since they won't frequent one enough to find someone who will learn and guide their tastes. They may be influenced by shelf talkers. But wine notes, for better are read by enthusiasts. I don't know that Asimov is wrong that there might be better ways for such people to talk about what they love.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
The consumer who buys a bottle of wine only on special occasions may well never have heard of Parker and certainly does not read reviews other than in newspaper columns on wine. They also can't rely on someone in a wine store since they won't frequent one enough to find someone who will learn and guide their tastes. They may be influenced by shelf talkers. But wine notes, for better are read by enthusiasts. I don't know that Asimov is wrong that there might be better ways for such people to talk about what they love.
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From my conversations with retailers and restaurateurs in our little burgh here in flyover country, I can assure you that nothing carries as much weight as a 90+ rating from the Spec with consumers here. Parker, as you say, preached more to the passionate consumer and I agree that Asimov's advice makes sense for those with the resources and interest to make it work.

Mark Lipton
 
The tasting note is dead!
Long live the tasting note!

Much of what wine writers are attempting to communicate obviously depends on their audience. Asimov writes for the newspaper of record, clearly he wants to reach as broad of an audience as possible. I would imagine his target is the “cherry, plum, and spice” tasting notes that read more like back-label marketing than anything else. Consumers that are more invested should want a tasting note with context that speaks not only of how the wine is drinking presently but also the broader situation of its production. I almost always find Luis Gutierrez to provide much of what I am personally looking for in a note -- the guy can pack a lot of relevant information into a short paragraph or two -- but the casual consumer isn’t subscribing to Wine Advocate. Nor should they.
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Really? People who only buy wine on special occasions read the Spec?
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Some do, but more pertinently, they read shelf talkers.
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Well, yes, I mentioned that. But, although shelf talkers sometimes have extracts from a tasting note (sometimes they just have points), I think they have as much to do with them as the headlines in the review of a play or film have to do with the review from which they are extracted, which is to say as much as military music and military justice have to do with music and justice.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
That may be, but they move product.
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Yes, of course, but they aren't that relevant to this debate.
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Why not? This whole tangent was on account of the claim, "I can assure you that nothing carries as much weight as a 90+ rating from the Spec with consumers here"
 
If Mark meant as read on a shell talker, I concede your point and have the same answer for bim. But that means I will merely say to him what I said to you. Reading shelf talkers isn't reading reviews.
 
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