This would parlay nicely over to the Curmudgeon thread!
I am happy to say that, generally speaking, I like Antonio Galloni and his reviews but he re-uses the, “In a word, [spectacular]…” phrase to end his tasting notes way too frequently.
“good people”, referring to employees or owners of a winery, usually appearing on on-line wine boards, also suggesting that the person saying “good people” has a personal relationship with the people at the winery. I know, I sound like a cantankerous guy, but are there ever “bad people” at a winery?
And concur on the strings of exotic fruits and teas (for a while, rooibos was like a pandemic). I’ve eaten a lot of “unusual” things but I will never describe something as tasting like one of them to show off. Same with wines–sure, talk about Durian or a very specific type of cherry if your tasting group includes a lot of people who have had it. But c’mon.
This one get tricky. Just because a fruit is rarely used in TNs doesn’t mean that it can’t be a valid descriptor. Miguel de Leon talked about this in an article he penned last year for PUNCH, talking about his experiences as an Asian sommelier attending tastings and trying to describe wines with descriptors that were familiar to him, and yet foreign to many who use most traditional tasting grids.
I agree with the core of what you’re saying, that often people throw a word jumble of fruit descriptors out there or use obscure descriptors when they really aren’t familiar with them at all. It’s mostly posturing. But just because something is seldom used as a descriptor, doesn’t mean it can’t be an apt descriptor in a tasting and we should be careful to not immediately dismiss those.
In the glass I agree, to an extent, as that doesn’t always tell you how the wine will come across on the palate. But if you’re someone who is sensitive to the mouthfeel of the wine, the bubbles make a huge difference there.