No, not the latest slanging match between RPJ & JO
Saw a comment from a wine writer in UK, where he explained that now he's progressed from amateur writer to a few paid jobs, he's now invited into what is effectively the Guild of Wine writers. This despite any qualifications etc.
His argument was that just doing the job didn't make you good & experience wasn't the same as talent & training. He thought some sort of exam would be good, but that straight blind tasting "options game" was a little too variable.
So if you had to design a competition for wine critics, how would you set it up?
To start you off, I think the following would be of use to measure:
1. The ability to judge consistently (in notes, rating etc.)
2. The ability to assess drinking windows effectively (perhaps getting them to re-assess, blind) wines they rated years ago.
3. The ability to detect certain "measurable" features (e.g which wine has the highest sweetness/acidity/etc., which has TCA)
Any other thoughts?
Battle of the critics?
Yes, all good points. Somewhere along the line, the ability to write would be handy as well. The fact you can taste residual sugar or brett, and know the lesser appellations of the Loire & Mosel valleys doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll produce attractive, or even readable, prose.
I think one of the reasons Jancis is regarded so highly is because all her early training was in journalism. I believe she's one of the few MWs to have come from journalism, as opposed to the 'trade' side of the business.
It's a rare talent to just get away from writing dry dusty tasting notes, accompanied by sterile renditions of statisitcs. "The xyz clone is planted north-south, at 3,000 vines/ha. Minimal fertiliser is used in the vineyard. Picking usually takes place in early April, with the grapes destemmed and fermented on their skins for up to two weeks..." Blah, blah. It's OK on a technical hand-out, but a bit dry for a wine column.
On the whole, we're pretty well served in Oz, but we don't have a world beater lurking anywhere, that's for sure!
cheers,
Graeme
I think one of the reasons Jancis is regarded so highly is because all her early training was in journalism. I believe she's one of the few MWs to have come from journalism, as opposed to the 'trade' side of the business.
It's a rare talent to just get away from writing dry dusty tasting notes, accompanied by sterile renditions of statisitcs. "The xyz clone is planted north-south, at 3,000 vines/ha. Minimal fertiliser is used in the vineyard. Picking usually takes place in early April, with the grapes destemmed and fermented on their skins for up to two weeks..." Blah, blah. It's OK on a technical hand-out, but a bit dry for a wine column.
On the whole, we're pretty well served in Oz, but we don't have a world beater lurking anywhere, that's for sure!
cheers,
Graeme
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Phil Shorten
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2003 12:19 am
Wine critics.....
I think the problem with pretty much all wine critics is that there ratings and assessments are biased by their own palate preferences.....it is one thing to be able to make a call that a wine is faulty, poorly made, or if the fruit is underripe etc etc, but another to severely criticise or mark a wine down if it does not align with one's own palate.
I guess this is where palate calibration comes in to being, as well as trusting one's own judgement and being prepared to ignore what some critic says. After all, do we decide what albums we will buy or what movies we will go and see solely on the call of some critic?
FWIW, I find that Jancis Robinson is very well balanced in her writing and avoids the tendency of overhyping, and her Purple Pages show her to be an admirer of many Australian wines, albeit in the more refined rather than over the top style. As to others, I read them from time to time, but find myself taking their advice less and less, preferring instead to use media such as this forum (and others) to gain information and assessments of different wines, as well as trying as much as I can.
Ultimately, I don't know that any "test" or similar would prove anything as wine is such a sensory experience. Just as many of the greatest chefs in the world are self taught and don't have any formal qualifications, you'd don't have to possess any formal qualifications to have a good palate, extensive wine knowledge and the capability to express a tasting experience in words.
In the UK, I find the quality of wine journalism in the newspapers to be poor in the extreme. Most of the writers simply seem to be lazy, preferring to write about some tasting they went to during the week or a book they read rather than writing something truly interesting and thought provoking.
Best leave it there.
Ciao
Phil
I guess this is where palate calibration comes in to being, as well as trusting one's own judgement and being prepared to ignore what some critic says. After all, do we decide what albums we will buy or what movies we will go and see solely on the call of some critic?
FWIW, I find that Jancis Robinson is very well balanced in her writing and avoids the tendency of overhyping, and her Purple Pages show her to be an admirer of many Australian wines, albeit in the more refined rather than over the top style. As to others, I read them from time to time, but find myself taking their advice less and less, preferring instead to use media such as this forum (and others) to gain information and assessments of different wines, as well as trying as much as I can.
Ultimately, I don't know that any "test" or similar would prove anything as wine is such a sensory experience. Just as many of the greatest chefs in the world are self taught and don't have any formal qualifications, you'd don't have to possess any formal qualifications to have a good palate, extensive wine knowledge and the capability to express a tasting experience in words.
In the UK, I find the quality of wine journalism in the newspapers to be poor in the extreme. Most of the writers simply seem to be lazy, preferring to write about some tasting they went to during the week or a book they read rather than writing something truly interesting and thought provoking.
Best leave it there.
Ciao
Phil