Great deals on Italian wines, enjoy today.Evidently someone cares, because it seems to be the hottest debate on most of the wine blogs or wine related blogs and websites these days. I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve run across recently that has addressed the subject of tasting notes by wine critics and their importance to the consumer. Are tasting notes helpful, or does anyone really care?
Most of the stuff I have read lately suggests that tasting notes are a complete waste of time, and most people do not even pay attention to them. I certainly am in no position to speak for everyone, but I will give my two bits based on my experience with the consumer. I run a wine department in a grocery store, and we sell a boatload of wine (there is no pun intended here, even if you have to take a boat to get to our lovely island). Everyday I hear how the customer feels about my tasting notes that I put up on my selections for the store. They like and read them. In fact, some have asked for copies of my notes so that they can take them home and use them when analyzing the wine they purchased. Go figure. Is this phenomena unique to my store only?
Based on my observations, and close contact with the consumer is that most like to read tasting notes. And why not? It helps them make a purchasing decision. Granted, there are some tasting notes that are better than others and most do not fall into the literary genius category. Seriously, how many ways can you describe dark cherry notes or sturdy tannins? However, the idea of tasting notes is not to keep the reader on the edge of their seat…It’s simply to help them understand what they are about to spend their hard-earned money on.
So, the question is…Why are so many wine writers taking a negative stance towards tasting notes? First off, most of these writers do not work with the public. They do not sell wine to them on the retail floor and listen to what they have to say. Sure, to be fair, they do get some input from their readers but that is limited. And, the ones that follow them are most likely in their camp of thought in the first place, so their comments are going to favor the writer.
Second, I think that most of these writers do not like the idea of doing tasting notes. Perhaps they are no good at it themselves. Perhaps they have a hard time identifying and describing certain characteristics in wine. Writing out tasting notes is a difficult task for sure, and takes a certain amount of dedication and creativity. It is certainly much easier to sit back and criticize or make fun of tasting notes rather then attempt to taste the wines and try to describe them in an interesting fashion.
Third, the worst thing a wine writer can do is rate a wine without penning any sort of descriptors to go along with the rating, whether it is a score, a grade, stars or whatever. Why do I say this? Think about it. Mr. or Mrs. so and so wine writer gives a wine 4 stars out of five. He or she says a bit about the wine, gives no description or a very incomplete one at best, and then rates it. How is the consumer to know what elements in the wine moved the writer to give the rating they did? There is really nothing to go on other than the writers so-called credentials.
I had a bad experience in this regard when I purchased a wine based on a rating by a well-known wine columnist from the east coast. He does not write any descriptors because he does not believe in them, but he has a good reputation. I bought the wine for around eighteen bucks and was very disappointed. To check myself, I purchased it again to see if I was mistaken the first time. NOT! If he had written some sort of descriptor of the wine, I would have had a better understanding of what he liked in a wine that would move him to rate the wine the way he did. That way the next time he rated a wine 4 or 5 stars, I would think twice about purchasing it.
Tasting notes have an important place in the wine world. They give the consumer some insight into what they are to expect out of a wine. I do not write out tasting notes for wine critics, I write them for the consumer. I could care less what another columnist thinks about my notes and I certainly don’t agree with their criticism of the notes themselves. I know it’s great fodder for columns, but it’s a lot of bu*^Sh#*. The consumer appreciates wine notes, I know this because they tell me. Cheers! Stan The Wine Man
