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.
