Which is the more useful tasting note?A) Cigar box, wild cherry and plum confiture with Near East spice notes and crushed white flower
B) 92+
C) Farmed bio-dynamically with low-yields from ungrafted vines; whole cluster fermentation with wild yeasts; aged in French oak barrels (25% new)
It makes sense that a "tasting note" would be little more than a flavor profile. But a list of (subjective) descriptors is only so useful, more of a parlor trick than anything.
And a score is just shorthand, a number as (thin) metaphor.
Which leaves C. Anybody who works at the Lab will tell you that's the right answer.
Of course, you might argue that C tells us nothing at all about the taste of the wine. And yet I would be inclined to buy the wine described in C; whereas, A and B stimulate little interest at all. For tea leaves, I like having information about the approach to viticulture and oenology. I've learned over time that a winemaker who is growing without pesticides, restricting yields and using native yeasts is likely to produce a wine that I'm very likely to enjoy no matter what it tastes like.
I suppose this says something about my faith in good intentions.
4 comments:
Nicely written post. And yeah, I would be more likely to buy C based on that information.
In regards to tasting notes, I find a mix of pure information (a la C) and some flavor descriptors - entirely subjective of course - generally helpful.
And of course a pretty label.
WW,
And with a cute furry animal on it!
We're in the midst of a deep, nay soul-searching, (re)evaluation of our approach to TNs at the Lab. I'm finding that once you get past the orchard fruits and sea spray, it quickly becomes a complex issue. I plan to do an enormous amount of study before ultimately landing pretty close to what you just said.
I will eventually get my act together and get up to SF. Ungrafted Riesling in hand.
I'm suffering from a bit of congnative dissonance between this post and the tasting note immediately below.
I think you mean to suggest that I'm the one that's suffering. And you are right. But the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Which I'm happy to do.
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