Len Evans comments on tasting notes

[Brucer]

I was looking thru my bookshelf yesterday, when I came across Lens book "Complete Book Of Australian Wine".
I bought it when I first started getting interested in wine,in 1984.
What I found interesting, in amongst his comments on many vintages of Grange, was his comment.....
Quote " when trying to describe wine flavours- a job I still find extremely difficult"
So, I am not the only one who has trouble describing flavours in wine.
Some of his comments are rather simple.....
64 Grange....It is a very high quality wine
68 Grange....It has a lovely big black colour
67 Kalimna...A very nice fruity, oaky wine
57 St Henri...was a well balanced wine, it had plenty of fruit and character

I just found it interesting, as Len was the guru.
Bruce

[Red Bigot]

Me three.

[Shiraz Man]

Me four.

I can describe some flavours, but others I can't.

[craig loves shiraz]

Throw my hat into this ring.....


To be honest, next time I'm at a winery and I here some tosser going on about it's "herbaceous and spicy nose with a hint of forest floor and some fine apple tree wood shavings", I swear to god I'm going to throw my glass at them.....

I find it really off putting the amount of crap that some people go on with. At the end of the day, wine is a very personal thing and what makes it such an enjoyable hobby. i.e. What it means to you!! Not everyone else.

[Glen]

Hi

Today I think it is easy to take for granted the enormous body of work that has been done on the science and art of winetasting globally, and which has been mainstreamed by many publications eg: the Essential Wine Tasting Guide (plug plug) :-

http://www.EssentialWineTastingGuide.com

Many of the nouns used commonly today, although known back then, were probably less likely to be used not so much because of the writers' lack of knowledge or unwillingness, but more likely because of a very uneducated and undemanding public. Just ask any cellar door person today, and they will still tell you how uneducated the 'average' consumer is, albeit more likely to be familiar with such tasting terms.

I also agree with craig loves shiraz, I don't particularly like hearing other peoples thoughts on wine aromas when I am trying to identify my own. The power of suggestion is far too great! (That goes especially for cellar door staff).

[tonsta]

I find it really off putting the amount of crap that some people go on with.

I couldn't agree more Craig. I'm all for written tasting notes but hearing these people dribble sh@t it at a winery is painful!

Just my two bobs worth

Tony

[BillMac]

You mean, when I say, "sh#t this tastes good". I sound more educated than I thought?

Maybe the wine scribes are just like the rest of us but have a better memory of the descriptors for a particular grape variety e.g. Shiraz- plum, dark cherry,black pepper, spice then add their own personel adjectives like etheral, elegent, sumptuous to further impress us.

[Jay60A]

You mean, when I say, "sh#t this tastes good". I sound more educated than I thought?

Maybe the wine scribes are just like the rest of us but have a better memory of the descriptors for a particular grape variety e.g. Shiraz- plum, dark cherry,black pepper, spice then add their own personel adjectives like etheral, elegent, sumptuous to further impress us.

On Len Evans, I think Grant told the story of him being able to pick out a single barrel of the hundreds of barrels of components for an unfinished wine. Also that Hugh Johnson and Michael Broadbent described him as the best taster they have known ... which is saying something. Or the story when in a vertical Grange tasting he simply walked along smelling them all, came back to the 1986 Grange and had drunk half of it while the other judges were still plodding through the lesser wines!

I think maybe when you have that kind of ability, plus the business ability he demonstrated, you realise that many of the words in TNs written today are redundant once you understand the basic style of the wine and/or its terroir. Parker is a classic case with his Shiraz descriptors, many of which could be encapsulated in the phrase "A hugely concentrated wine ..." without the need for the subsequent five-seven adjectives which are a given for the blockbuster style anyway but do not serve in any way differentiate the wines in terms of detailed quality (Why 95 vs 97 points for blockbusters with almost identical descriptors ... maybe it cannot actually be described?)

Actually some key descriptor used by reviews give huge insight. As an example JH occasionally uses certain words you rarely see in his annual review ... "hologram", "tapestry", "glorious", "wonderful". THIS is what tells you he is thinking wow, this is a truly world class wine. Or on the Penfolds Block 42 last year "Points are meaningless: 97 to 100, who cares" one cannot help but think that he just wants to drink the rest of the bottle instead of bothering with the TN!

Jay

[Daryl Douglas]

What happens on my palate is the way I describe a wine because it's all about what the gob enjoys. Colour and smell aren't reliable descriptors of how a wine tastes. I think I do use other people's descriptors though when I recognise them myself, to communicate how a wine tastes to me. Wine really is a "me thing" even if some people get a bit wanky about it at times, especially the francophiles.

cheers

daz

[TORB]

Jay,

I as Murray would say, "I am in violent agreement with you."

Daz,

You say "....and smell aren't reliable descriptors of how a wine tastes."

Technicially that is not correct. The smell is a very reliable indication of how a wine tastes, but the problem is that very few wine lovers (me included) have a nose that is sufficiently well trained to accurately compute and describe the bouquet.

[Craig(NZ)]

just give me the number out of 100 please. thats all i need to decide whether i like it

[Red Bigot]

just give me the number out of 100 please. thats all i need to decide whether i like it

Don't you mean '109'?

[n4sir]

I was looking thru my bookshelf yesterday, when I came across Lens book "Complete Book Of Australian Wine".
I bought it when I first started getting interested in wine,in 1984.
What I found interesting, in amongst his comments on many vintages of Grange, was his comment.....
Quote " when trying to describe wine flavours- a job I still find extremely difficult"
So, I am not the only one who has trouble describing flavours in wine.
Some of his comments are rather simple.....
64 Grange....It is a very high quality wine
68 Grange....It has a lovely big black colour
67 Kalimna...A very nice fruity, oaky wine
57 St Henri...was a well balanced wine, it had plenty of fruit and character

I just found it interesting, as Len was the guru.
Bruce

I've got the same book at home but probably a different edition (1st Ed compiled 1973 reprinted twice, 2nd Ed compiled 1976 reprinted twice, 3rd Ed published 1978, 4th Ed first published 1984, reprinted 1985).

The notes on the above wines in my book contain much more detail.

Cheers,
Ian

[Craig(NZ)]

Craig(NZ) wrote:
just give me the number out of 100 please. thats all i need to decide whether i like it


Don't you mean '109'?

Yes, well cant expect too much. will take a few years for the world to catch up

[Red Bigot]

Sometimes it's difficult to tell beween optimism, delusion and satire...

[TORB]

Sometimes it's difficult to tell beween optimism, delusion and satire...

Or all three rolled up into one.