When I first began to actually write down tasting notes for wine I thought, OK, look at the wine, smell it, taste it, then write down some score out of 100 as an overall evaluation. At the time I thought that this was the best way to taste wine and gave a good indicator as to how good the wine was. However, over time I think that this was a bit misguided. First of all, there is far much more to wine than just how it looks, smells and tastes. I know some people would disagree with me here and say if it smells good and tastes good then what is the problem? Well there actually is no problem with this assertion, but I think it really is only part of the overall appreciation of wine. For me wine tells a story, a story about where it came from, about the weather, the soil and the person who made it. I think to fully appreciate the wine we drink it is important to know the entire story. Therefore, when I write my notes on this blog I will try and share as much information about the wine as I can. I think this will allow anyone who reads my tasting notes to understand where I am coming from and hopefully learn more of the story behind the wine.
A second issue I have with tastings notes is the 100 point system or even the 20 point system. I used to use this approach when I began tasting wine, but over time I have found this to be a hugely problematic way to taste wine. First of all what is the difference between a wine that scores 92 with one that scores 93? Is it true that the one that is a percentage point higher really a better wine? Furthermore, what in the wine with the score of 93 gave it its extra 1%? It seems absolutely ridiculous for anyone tasting to actually have the ability to determine 1% differences in a wine. Secondly, how can one actually claim that a wine is 100% perfect and how is perfection being assessed? I mean is there actually a criterion that one can develop where you can say this wine smells 100% perfect or tastes 100% perfect? Again this seems quite difficult if not impossible . A third issue I have with the scoring system is the fact that it allows tasters to be quite lazy with their tasting notes. How many times have I read a tasting note that looks like this:
"Ruby red colour, blackberries, vanilla and earth on the nose, medium bodied, nose replays in the mouth, score 93."
How unbelievably unhelpful, how on earth is the taster able to put a score of 93 up while providing nothing as to why they did so? Many wines have these notes so why is it so good. This happens all too often and really misguides people.
With this in mind I have decided that my tasting notes will start with a bit about the winery and the wine maker if I cannot find this information I will be up front about it and let anyone reading this know. After that I will give as much information as I can about how the wine is made (i.e. when it was picked, type of yeasts used, aging method etc.) again the depth of this information will vary. Then I will provide my standard notes appearance, bouquet, taste, body, finish etc. Then I will give reasons why or why not I like it and what I think of the wine overall. I think that this is a much better system and really allows anyone who reads my notes to learn more about the wine and also understand why I enjoyed or did not enjoy a particular wine.
I will begin posting my tasting notes this week and will publish a full blog on the recent trip I took to Prince Edward County, one of the newest wine regions in the world. It was a great trip and I have some wonderful wines to talk about and some great stories as well. Take care and cheers.
Hunter
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