I had the good fortune to break bread and taste through the new releases from Patz and Hall with James Hall. These wines went beyond my minimum standard for writing about a wine or winery, "solid", soaring all the way to "compelling", "cerebral", and "delicious". It would be hard for me to imagine someone that would be unhappy purchasing and drinking any of the wines I found in my glass. Patz and Hall is never heavy handed and the wines really show finesse and balance while remaining distinct in each bottling and reflecting the different terriors. I tasted most of these wines in the early Fall and feel like the extra 6 months is allowing some exciting subtleties to come forward. Since everyone is probably thinking it, my favorite wine of the afternoon was the "Chenoweth" bottling. Subtle and superb, perhaps I got Burgundy on my mind when James was talking about his love of Burgundy, whatever the reason, there seemed to be a hint of Chambolle-Musigny in my glass.
Cheers.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Shades of Deliciousness
It has been a couple of weeks since the last post. This blog is a hobby rather than a job, and after 2 weeks in France, I needed to reconnect with the family and my job. So after a couple hours in the yard raking leaves and picking up sticks, I've got my next topic organized in my mind.
Yesterday, I was part of a judging panel for wines being shown at a charity event in a couple of months. I know, only a true nerd would give up a perfectly good Saturday to taste wine. Believe it or not, there were close to a hundred other nerds that showed up for the action as well. My quandrary began as I thought how do I approach scoring wines that I was tasting double blind. The only info provided was a very vague price range, under $15, under $30, over $50. I started thinking about whether I was equipped with enough info to even judge fairly. The paradigm I used was as follows, assuming I thought I could clearly identify the varietal, did it taste correct and then beyond that, was it delicious enough for me to be happy if I had to pay the upper limit of the stated range. I quickly shifted gears slightly after the first flight and the paradigm was modified around whether the average consumer would be happy with the level of deliciousness for said price. I don't know if that is fair, but that was my method.
After the tasting was over, I talked to my compadres and we realized each one of used a different paradigm to judge by. I guess everyone should take comfort in the power of numbers, any silliness we exhibited should be tossed aside by the average of 95 other tasters. I became thoroughly confused however, when I tried to figure out what the consumer really wants and what will be good for them in the long run. I think the average person would just want to know what was most delicious, but that's why they are average.
I think I owe it to them (the "everyman consumer") as a professional to know and remember that scores based solely on taste will render a very homogenous wine world where some grapes and terroirs will never compete and we will run the risk of waking up to a glass of flavor of the year. I can't get away from varietal correctness, because in the end, it is the only way to keep diversity in a world where wine is still a business. Given the chance, and that chance is a good score, most wineries would like nothing better than to chase the public palate.
I think the last flight of the day proved my point, I tasted winemakers that I can only assume attempted to make wines in a style that would appeal to a person with the amount of money they wished to charge. I hated doing it, knowing the price, but I couldn't give exceptional scores, because I knew if I opened my wallet and then popped the cork on those wines I'd be left with the taste of regret in my mouth.
This made me ponder this morning the concept of fact-based scoring. Our atmosphere yesterday was relatively sterile and honestly, it sucked the life right out most of the wines. For me, I need to know the back story to begin to enjoy the wines. I taste double blind with a group frequently and have come to believe that at best it becomes sport, but I can't tell you how many wines are rendered lifeless without knowing the personality of the winemaker, the history of the property, or the circumstances surrounding varietal, vintage, and terroir. All these variables frame the context from which the wine can be enjoyed. I'm sure had I known even half the variables involved, my scores would have gone up, because I would know how to enjoy each wine. At the end of the day isn't that what we want, to taste a delicious wine and enjoy it?
Maybe next year, I'll make the assumption that most wines have some compelling story to accompany them, and boost my scores by 10% across the board. Just some things to think/worry about next time you read a review or see a score and get ready to shell out those hard earned dollars. It's probably terrifying knowing a curmudgeon/nerd like myself may be tugging at your wallet with the skill of puppet-master. Sorry, for the record, I still felt like I just called it like I tasted it yesterday.
Yesterday, I was part of a judging panel for wines being shown at a charity event in a couple of months. I know, only a true nerd would give up a perfectly good Saturday to taste wine. Believe it or not, there were close to a hundred other nerds that showed up for the action as well. My quandrary began as I thought how do I approach scoring wines that I was tasting double blind. The only info provided was a very vague price range, under $15, under $30, over $50. I started thinking about whether I was equipped with enough info to even judge fairly. The paradigm I used was as follows, assuming I thought I could clearly identify the varietal, did it taste correct and then beyond that, was it delicious enough for me to be happy if I had to pay the upper limit of the stated range. I quickly shifted gears slightly after the first flight and the paradigm was modified around whether the average consumer would be happy with the level of deliciousness for said price. I don't know if that is fair, but that was my method.
After the tasting was over, I talked to my compadres and we realized each one of used a different paradigm to judge by. I guess everyone should take comfort in the power of numbers, any silliness we exhibited should be tossed aside by the average of 95 other tasters. I became thoroughly confused however, when I tried to figure out what the consumer really wants and what will be good for them in the long run. I think the average person would just want to know what was most delicious, but that's why they are average.
I think I owe it to them (the "everyman consumer") as a professional to know and remember that scores based solely on taste will render a very homogenous wine world where some grapes and terroirs will never compete and we will run the risk of waking up to a glass of flavor of the year. I can't get away from varietal correctness, because in the end, it is the only way to keep diversity in a world where wine is still a business. Given the chance, and that chance is a good score, most wineries would like nothing better than to chase the public palate.
I think the last flight of the day proved my point, I tasted winemakers that I can only assume attempted to make wines in a style that would appeal to a person with the amount of money they wished to charge. I hated doing it, knowing the price, but I couldn't give exceptional scores, because I knew if I opened my wallet and then popped the cork on those wines I'd be left with the taste of regret in my mouth.
This made me ponder this morning the concept of fact-based scoring. Our atmosphere yesterday was relatively sterile and honestly, it sucked the life right out most of the wines. For me, I need to know the back story to begin to enjoy the wines. I taste double blind with a group frequently and have come to believe that at best it becomes sport, but I can't tell you how many wines are rendered lifeless without knowing the personality of the winemaker, the history of the property, or the circumstances surrounding varietal, vintage, and terroir. All these variables frame the context from which the wine can be enjoyed. I'm sure had I known even half the variables involved, my scores would have gone up, because I would know how to enjoy each wine. At the end of the day isn't that what we want, to taste a delicious wine and enjoy it?
Maybe next year, I'll make the assumption that most wines have some compelling story to accompany them, and boost my scores by 10% across the board. Just some things to think/worry about next time you read a review or see a score and get ready to shell out those hard earned dollars. It's probably terrifying knowing a curmudgeon/nerd like myself may be tugging at your wallet with the skill of puppet-master. Sorry, for the record, I still felt like I just called it like I tasted it yesterday.
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