There has been a lot of noise lately about the value of wine critics and their sometimes lengthy wine descriptions. The push back has come from both in and outside of the Bacchus sphere. Perhaps, some of it is due to Robert Parker’s retirement.
Maybe that has empowered many to speak up against the value of wine scores.
The Value of Wine Descriptions
Much has been said about the esoteric nature of wine and how it intimidates many people. It’s understandable because of the mystic that exists around it.
How many industries have such a world built around them? We read reviews of gadgets on Amazon and don’t go waxing poetic about them. Wine is different. Reviews articles you see are mainly crap, anyway. It’s just marketing—and affiliate money.
One could argue that wine descriptions are in a league of their own. They don’t necessarily sell a wine in the way that a Consumer’s Report review would.
Instead, they offer vital clues to a person familiar with wine of quality and not always just price as some claim. A non-wine individual’s take would naturally scoff at heady wine descriptions if they don’t get it.
Defining Quality Wines
It’s essential to understand what defines quality in the wine world before one starts casting stones around the room. There are four characteristics that define quality versus plonk. They are:
- Long finish
- Balance
- Intensity of flavor
- Complexity
It’s a road map from acceptable to good to very good to outstanding, depending on how many boxes you tick off the list.
Even a neophyte has to understand that to describe something that embodies all those things takes some words. And anyone who has tasted even a few wines knows that they vary.
Logic tells us quite clearly then that lengthy wine descriptions are an unspoken measure of quality. A mediocre wine isn’t worth the hot air.
The complexity comes from the 30 or so chemical reactions that occur during fermentation. The chemistry still is at work in the barrel or vat and into the bottle.
The different compounds continue to form volatile chemicals that translate into the detectable aromas. Someone who isn’t accustomed to trying to determine them won’t know that they’re present.
There’s a good reason why the brains of sommeliers differ from those who aren’t experts.
It’s easy to criticize something you don’t understand.
Final Thoughts About Wine Descriptions
Not everyone likes wine. We get that. I don’t like soccer, bourbon, or prime time TV, for that matter. However, it’s easy to sit in the peanut gallery and bally about insults. Wine takes more than its share of hits.
I like reading wine descriptions. It’s fun for me to enjoy someone’s experience with a bottle. I may not have the same take on it, but I can appreciate how wine can transform an experience to the ethereal.
Perhaps, those critics can take a step into the light and learn something from someone who has expertise in something they have yet to understand.