Comments on: Tasting Notes http://vinofictions.com/2007/10/24/tasting-notes/ the blog that proves "in vino veritas" Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:13:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Thomas http://vinofictions.com/2007/10/24/tasting-notes/#comment-167 Thomas Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:40:28 +0000 http://vinofictions.com/2007/10/24/tasting-notes/#comment-167 Winophite, For a while your comment had gotten lost in the Internet netherworld, but I found it. I fully understand your position about the tasting notes of others. Sometimes, my thoughts have more to do with the years of experience that I have put into wine exploration. I tend to forget that others don't have that kind of experience and so what I often think to be unnecessary turns out for people like you to be necessary--I believe tasting notes online may be one of those cases. Still, no matter what anyone says about the taste of a wine, it remains subjective, and often in a group of people someone will not taste what all the others seem to think they taste. It can work the other way around, too. It's often quite easy to pass along the power of suggestion by saying that you taste such and such in a certain wine; I've done that experiment many times in my classes. In the end, tasting notes are an opinion. The question is whether or not to value that opinion. That's a personal decision--sometimes you win and sometimes you lose when you make the decision. I am convinced that all my tasting notes on wines are meaningful to me only. My aim when I write about wine is to educate about the subject in general, which is one more reason for me not to post specific tasting notes. Winophite,

For a while your comment had gotten lost in the Internet netherworld, but I found it.

I fully understand your position about the tasting notes of others.

Sometimes, my thoughts have more to do with the years of experience that I have put into wine exploration. I tend to forget that others don’t have that kind of experience and so what I often think to be unnecessary turns out for people like you to be necessary–I believe tasting notes online may be one of those cases.

Still, no matter what anyone says about the taste of a wine, it remains subjective, and often in a group of people someone will not taste what all the others seem to think they taste. It can work the other way around, too. It’s often quite easy to pass along the power of suggestion by saying that you taste such and such in a certain wine; I’ve done that experiment many times in my classes.

In the end, tasting notes are an opinion. The question is whether or not to value that opinion. That’s a personal decision–sometimes you win and sometimes you lose when you make the decision.

I am convinced that all my tasting notes on wines are meaningful to me only. My aim when I write about wine is to educate about the subject in general, which is one more reason for me not to post specific tasting notes.

]]> By: winophite http://vinofictions.com/2007/10/24/tasting-notes/#comment-166 winophite Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:57:51 +0000 http://vinofictions.com/2007/10/24/tasting-notes/#comment-166 Good day. Even though I am but a mere novice, I have a few thoughts about tasting notes. I too don't feel any "trust" in notes from promotional materials and only lightly trust the labels on the bottles. A half century of living has taught me that promoters will tell you what you want to hear. By writing about freebies, I think writers are definitely compelled to "pay" for their freebies by tempering their opinions in writing. I don't think they out right lie, something extrordinary (either good or bad) will get just commentary or the writers reputation will suffer. I do frequent one wine board, and have found tasting notes quite interesting. No one is promoting anything, and there is frequently differing opinions. A couple problems do exist; Wines in the NE or the far west are simply not available here in south central IN, so notes on those haven't any value for me. Also, I'm not likely to spend as much on a bottle as many of the posters and thus notes on those wines are also irrelevant. As I mentioned, I'm a novice. Some of the value I get on notes about readily available wine is in the descriptors used. Who would think that "tarry" is a taste in some wines, but it is and I can taste and smell it. But what about cassis, I don't even know what cassis is let alone what the taste is. One day I will hopefully find a bottle from a note that has cassis flavor and I can experience it and maybe become familiar with the taste. Through others tasting notes along with my own experience, I have learned some descriptors. I now feel comfortable calling a wine creamy, or satiny. I guess my point is that through others opinions about tastes, I can learn how to identify many of the complex flavors typically found in wines. Here in my home town, we don't have any wine clubs, nor any wine bars;(although we have one in the works set to open next year). My friends are all beer drinkers that simply don't recognise wine as one of the great pleasures in life. Thus I feel kind of alone in this, although my wife is just starting with the sweet wines and hopefully her palate will grow as mine has. One final thought. I started in a mail order monthly wine club to become familiar with different types of wine. I found that I really wasn't getting the most bang for my buck. Most of the wines seemed flabby and second rate, although the promoters did a good job of talking them up. I have since dropped the club for winery recs made by board members, (that I have never met). I have several bottles aging and hope to soon taste and compare with notes from these same board members. So...the main value I get from tasting notes of others, (note how I didn't call them specialists), is in the development of my own tastes and growth of my own knowledge. Your blogs information has been great and also helped grow my wine experience and I want to thank you for your time and dedication to the industry. I look forward to your continued posts. Winophite Good day. Even though I am but a mere novice, I have a few thoughts about tasting notes. I too don’t feel any “trust” in notes from promotional materials and only lightly trust the labels on the bottles. A half century of living has taught me that promoters will tell you what you want to
hear. By writing about freebies, I think writers are definitely compelled to “pay” for their freebies by tempering their opinions in writing. I don’t think they out right lie, something extrordinary (either good or bad) will get just commentary or the writers reputation will suffer.
I do frequent one wine board, and have found tasting notes quite interesting. No one is promoting anything, and there is frequently differing opinions. A couple problems do exist; Wines in the NE or the far west are simply not available here in south central IN, so notes on those haven’t any value for me. Also, I’m not likely to spend as much on a bottle as many of the posters and thus notes on those wines are also irrelevant.
As I mentioned, I’m a novice. Some of the value I get on notes about readily available wine is in the descriptors used. Who would think that “tarry” is a taste in some wines, but it is and I can taste and smell it. But what about cassis, I don’t even know what cassis is let alone what the taste is. One day I will hopefully find a bottle from a note that has cassis flavor and I can experience it and maybe become familiar with the taste. Through others tasting notes along with my own experience, I have learned some descriptors. I now feel comfortable calling a wine creamy, or satiny. I guess my point is that through others opinions about tastes, I can learn how to identify many of the complex flavors typically found in wines.
Here in my home town, we don’t have any wine clubs, nor any wine bars;(although we have one in the works set to open next year). My friends are all beer drinkers that simply don’t recognise wine as one of the great pleasures in life. Thus I feel kind of alone in this, although my wife is just starting with the sweet wines and hopefully her palate will grow as mine has.
One final thought. I started in a mail order monthly wine club to become familiar with different types of wine. I found that I really wasn’t getting the most bang for my buck. Most of the wines seemed flabby and second rate, although the promoters did a good job of talking them up. I have since dropped the club for winery recs made by board members, (that I have never met). I have several bottles aging and hope to soon taste and compare with notes from these same board members.
So…the main value I get from tasting notes of others, (note how I didn’t call them specialists), is in the development of my own tastes and growth of my own knowledge. Your blogs information has been great and also helped grow my wine experience and I want to thank you for your time and dedication to the industry. I look forward to your continued posts. Winophite

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