Well, I pretty much already know your palate sucks because I can see what you’re drinking…and what you’ve drank in the past…and what excites you, and why. At least, that is, if you’re being truthful in your tasting notes.
No doubt this post has (already!) come across as an egregious flame to most (all?), but bear with me, it’s not. Really. I pinky swear. At least I swear it’s not my intent, my intent is to create a dialogue whereby we can admit that some have more/better abilities than others in a non-offensive, non-superiority freak kind of way.
We, society, has changed (a lot, too much!) in the past few decades; part of us hasn’t kept up with that change. We used to talk to each other, face to face. If you go back just couple of hundred years (and ALL of the time before that), we didn’t have a choice other than face to face besides super snail mail - an even that’s a fairly ‘recent’ creation, and those include smoke signals, too. We didn’t have cell phones (obviously) nor the plethora of messaging apps/platforms. (wait for it…)
Yes, I know I’m being obvious, but it’s to make a point re: what may not be obvious, that we’ve become less skilled at criticism. Part of criticism, for me anyway, used to be the idea/practice of critique - a way to break things down, with the goal of analyzing, and with they hopes that the widget/idea/etc. can be made better. Like I said, for me, anyway. Naturally, another part of criticism, and the reason the word/idea/subject is so troubling for most, is that it’s taken personally. And negatively. And painfully. It’s a weapon for some. How sad for them. We need to become more artful in our criticism, where ‘artful’ requires actual investment.
For those that need it dumbed down, and yes, some/most do (wait for it…), it’s OK to be critical, just like it’s OK to have a crappy palate: We’re born with what we’re born with, and no amount of ‘experience’ is going to change that. (no doubt this will be challenged, but if so, the point has been missed, so please don’t read on).
You see, we’re all different. Some have great eyesight, or uncanny hearing abilities. While some can count cards at the blackjack table - with a six-deck shoe - with no training whatsoever. In other words, each of us has natural abilities, the same as each of us has (and it’s important to use this word here) disabilities. But we’re not allowed to talk about people with disabilities, and we’re not given to think of ourselves as having disabilities. But we do, we have them. Every single one of us. (I promise I’ll make my point soon enough, thank you for reading this far)
It’s easy enough to talk about ourselves and others in the context of having different strengths and weaknesses. But it’s not, at all, easy to talk about ourselves as having abilities and disabilities. Semantics, for me, though I’m sure others will disagree - which is to miss the entire point. And/or which makes me an a$$hole. Or, natural abilities notwithstanding, some/most choose the dumbed down option. It’s where we’re headed as a civilization, I’m afraid.
OK, I doubt there are many that have read to this point, no doubt nauseated to near death with my unbridled self-righteousness and self-appointed role as supreme pontiff. But if you’re still reading, I promise it’s not about either of those things. It’s not about me. It’s about us. Which takes me back to our strengths and weaknesses, our differences, on this board, and boards just like it across hundreds of subjects. And off the boards, as in face-to-face – something we’re less likely to encounter in our day-to-day, work ourselves-to-death lives that we were just 50 years ago. Heck, maybe it’s only 20 years ago.
OK, I fear I’ll lose even the most trusting at this point, so I’ll (actually) make my point:
Person X has great hair, or seemingly super-human, eyesight, or whatever, but they also have a problem, one they were born with, and when they laugh, it makes anyone else in the room cringe, and instantly uncomfortable. But that’s my point, (or one of them?) it’s not a problem, it’s a disability, and a disability is a good thing. We’re all different, a fairly common expression, but in reality I feel they’re just hollow words that circumvent the truth - that we’re actually all different, and that includes our ability/disability to taste, and smell, and remember, and all of those things that go into wine enjoyment/analysis. And on and on; not just wine.
You see, the person that posts a (ahem) tasting note (read: score, a number plucked from the air that too many/all have convinced themselves has meaning/merit not only to themselves but to others) that says, simply, YUM! or Terrific! may have a disability, the inability to articulate what they taste. Maybe they can’t articulate it because they can’t articulate much else, though they’re very articulate at everything else, but when it comes down to their brains being able to articulate their experience with wine, it just isn’t happening. Or maybe they’re just lazy ![[training.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/d0f39866e5714408d7091b0bd2d7bb764d7bb973.gif "[training.gif]"){kind=small}
. Or maybe they just can’t taste/smell as good as others.
And this is odd for us/society (if I can speak for society ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
), to see a person so articulate (seemingly in everything) not able to utter more than a single word about the wine they just tasted. (and has nothing to do with lack of motivation, etc., but with just a sheer inability/disability). Just one example, there are countless, across all topics. (which is my point(s), but I’ll continue anyway, I’m a masochist 
)
The second part of the/my point, beyond that we’re different, is that it we should be perfectly comfortable to talk about these differences, but it’s not/we’re not. Those conversations are avoided altogether - which goes back to the taking/giving criticism badly thing (and so we never make any progress) because (all too often, always?) it comes at the expense of hurting someone’s feelings/coming across as superior and/or hurtful. But we need to be more honest, we need to be able to say these things, we need to be able to talk about the differences/abilities, because it teaches us not only how to be (more) respectful to others, but it also makes us more honest, and respect and honesty seem to be in shorter and shorter supply. Or maybe that’s the way it’s always been, but I think not. I think we’ve changed, because our methods/modes of communication have changed and we’re not really even aware of the rest of it. Or for those that are, maybe it’s just not a battle worth fighting.
Now, back to the word smooth, and How I Know Your Palate Sucks. (I’m probably going to lose everyone still here, and be banned and (more?) universally hated at this point). You see, there was something in a thread that that talked about good music/bad music and a person’s ability (disability! ha, see what I did there) to truly distinguish between the two. But wine isn’t music.
Some may write this off and put it in the “a person has a right to say what’s good and what’s not’, i.e. to be able to drink what they like and skip what they don’t”. I think, maybe, we’re just avoiding the truth, or the battle, or whatever. Which is not to say that MY choice of music is perfect and everyone that doesn’t conform to my tastes has poor/bad taste in music, it’s to say that some just can’t taste - and that society hasn’t challenged them and helped them to realize they can’t. No one likes to lose face. And also because that would be demeaning and putting down people with disabilities is bad. (so much more I want to say here, but I’ll move on)
I feel like I’m struggling at this point (others may feel I’ve been struggling since the first sentence), but I’ll close by saying that I find the word ‘smooth’ to mean something I personally run away from in a wine. So I did a test, just one, and maybe not all the confirmation I need or should trust, but whatever, it’s as far as I’ve gotten at this point. It began with me reading some tasting notes on a wine. There were five entries/notes, all posted by different people, at different dates/locations, etc., but they all had that word, smooth. So I bought a bottle (one they all scored 93-95, though the points are a different matter and I’ve already digressed enough) and I tried it. I’d never had it before, and I approached it the same as I prefer to approach all wines, with an open mind (it’s taken decades of being humbled by wines, that I think I might be there. Might be, it’s not an easy thing).
Actually, because it cost upwards of $75 (but less than $150), I was rather hoping it was as good as all the notes said it was. Honestly, I was excited to try it. But it was crap, in the context of what a fine wine at that price point is expected to be. Instead, linear, one-note, plush, low-acid, low tannin, blah, blah, blah. It was crap. Tasty as hell for a lot of folks, but still crap. It was made, not grown (and it was grown in way less than ideal conditions for the varieties), but it’s also a board favorite, and I am keen to find new things from this board and others. It should be noted that I don’t know the five people that all called it smooth, and I didn’t look up what they like to drink/buy, etc. I didn’t want to know, I wanted to try the wine because the people that tried it were all so excited about it and I caught the bug and couldn’t wait to open it. But it was crap. In the realm of well-made wines, it was crap. Simple and thick with no spine and really low acidity. Which is not to say that we have different tastes, it’s to say that some simply can’t taste, and no amount of ‘research’ is going to change that. Or maybe it’s to say that some can taste, and that’s exactly what they like. Maybe. 
So there you are, some people can’t taste - or maybe they can but they’ve never had a ‘fine’ wine, one in the historically traditional sense – and yet they call these wines “balanced”, while they’re clearly not. Or maybe they just can’t taste, which is mostly the ability to smell). Just like some can’t run a ten second 40.
And then there are some that can taste, but they can’t write or otherwise describe it. Literally, they can’t do it. And you know what, it’s a good thing. All of it. But it’s not a good thing in the ‘drink whatever you like and eff the ones on the other side of the fence’ vein, it’s a good thing that we (just me? help!) can call something that’s poor/bad as bad. And it’s good that we can tell people that have the palate of a yak, that really, they have the palate of a yak. (in no way is any of this directed at JH, please don’t go there)
Embrace the bad, your inner Yak (in a serious way, not a joking one) embrace the smooth! (please, take this the right way, that’s the real point of this whole damn post, embrace being different vs. taking offense at the idea of liking something that others call bad, and thereby making yourself different).
Obviously some can write/articulate, and others can’t; I haven’t let that stop me. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
(this whole thing was not easy to write, I don’t want to seem/be condescending or disrespectful in any way. But I do want more honesty, because honesty can/does lead to greater learning and it seems the only way to get it is to ruffle some feathers, which is not my objective at all, but I realize it’s going to happen. Further, I don’t like the ‘shaming’ thing, it’s pitiful, really. And my abhorrence of the use of the word smooth used in the context of describing wines, is just that, my abhorrence. Maybe there’s just no way to write this whole thing. Maybe it’s just me/my problem. Or maybe someone(s) can elaborate; respectfully, please.
And so while the word ‘sucks’ in the thread title was used, it was done to prove a point (i.e. theater prop), and not to be used in a disparaging way. If I meant to do that, I’d have said ‘really sucks’. 
And perhaps the scariest part of all, I’m stone sober. ![[smileyvault-ban.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/426cc97ad8dd530c8304b0918ca75ff841d4d950.gif "[smileyvault-ban.gif]")
then again I’m a simple person.