I don’t see how that’s possible.
I’m left wondering only one thing, with her impressive autobiographical rant:
Did she graduate summa cum laude?
I counted it up and I “tasted” around 75 wines in Napa this past Friday.
But did you also get the highest score and pass the Master Somm exam on the first try?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Did you have another 525 “tastes” in you big guy?
Has someone invited this woman to the next Berserkerfest?
I bet we could get 600 wines for her to taste - see if she can fulfill her claim.
Hell, a horizontal of Two Buck Chuck is only $12 plus tax.
Damn tax getting in the way!!!
Ah, c’mon, guys, cut her some slack. After all, she did say: “After about the 400th wine, something has to be really outstanding to make your mouth happy.”
You know what; I think I know of a back alley wine bar that can sell us a couple hundred bottles of Rex Goliath tax free…
Her name is Emily Wines! From the look of her, she has a bit of an attitude to boot. She’s a natural born Berserker.
Who among the NY contingent can bring her into the fold?
Narcissistic flogging on aside, I’ve been to industry events where if you start early enough in the day…why wouldn’t it be possible?
I was at the first Montecastelli House Fair in 2003 and tasted through a flight of 12 Parusso wines in about as many minutes with Daniel Thomases sitting right there. I exclaimed to him “I don’t know how you do this all day.”
I think a mere mortal like myself would experience palate fatigue, but one could certainly go through the motions.
I think I’d rather see Karen MacNeil here.
Here’s another picture of her. She’s from SF. Is this a Berserker or what?
While 600 might be pushing it, I know I’ve done over 200 in 24 hours at trade shows like ViniSud or during buying trips. Heck, during the Corbieres Death March in 2007 (Random Ramblings on Food and Wine: The Corbières Death March), we did trade tastings in the morning (60-80 wines), lunch with producers (16-24 wines), trade tastings in the afternoon (another 60-80 wines) and dinner with producers (15-30 wines).
So 600, while extreme, does sound somewhat plausible.
Tasting 600 in a day is very plausible to me. Giving that many wines a real evaluation or tasting notes in a day is impossible IMNSHO. I don’t care who you are.
I’ve tasted through a hundred in a day and found it counterproductive. Even if your palate shows no fatigue (which mine does), you are only getting a sampling point of a wine that may evolve dramatically in glass, especially if its barrel tasting. I put together tastings and have decided to pair down the wines from the 20+ that we normally do to a more selective sampling.
Now the article’s header is about slogging through hundreds of wines per day to find the next great wine. I’d remind you that Big Jay slogs through hundreds of wines. Said practices may often put yourself in a precarious position to be taken advantage of…
Mark – 600 wines is one per minute for ten hours straight with no break. I do have plenty of experience tasting wines all day long, both in a sit-down context and moving around from one cellar to another (much easier). 100 wines of normal strength is usually at or above my limit, even though spread out over an extra long day; if they are lower alcohol German wines, I can up that a little. Also, even with spitting, which of course is a must for professional tasting, you retain some alcohol. By the end of a day where you’d tasted 600 wines, you’d be pretty looped – in fact falling down, I should think.
Emily Wines is a Master Sommelier. She is highly talented and provides wonderful hospitality. She works at the Fifth Floor in San Francisco.
Not this gal men, she’s just getting warmed up!