Just turn your head to face the sky. Shazam. That’s why he’s a critic and yer not.
Yes. After 30 years of editing journalists, lawyers and Wall Street types, I have acquired the same skill, but I’m not as adept as you at putting the grammatical labels on the problems.
Stand back!!
Felsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colonia 2018 (750ml)
The 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colonia is fascinating to taste next to the Rancia, as the two parcels are adjacent. Rich and substantial in the glass, Colonia is textured and ample, qualities that become increasingly apparent over time. Rugged, rocky terrain seems to amplify power, explosive verticality and acidity. (Drink between 2026-2043) – Vinous, Antonio Galloni, 97 points
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What does verticality mean–is that even a word? If it is good, is horizontality bad? And what would that be?
Others before you have asked this question.
That’s a good one. The main question I would have is whether it existed in all dimensions. As we know, some wines don’t and since he’s emphasizing the vertical nature of the explosion, I can only imagine that it is not three dimensional.
But going back to your earlier post, it’s really a mess. Meadows combines almost infantile elements with pseudo-sophisticated BS elements.
larger-scaled flavors that possess very good richness
“Very good richness” as opposed to the mediocre richness or even the bad richness of other wines.
“Sappy dry extract” is a fave of his that tries to combine poetry with chemistry and fails. There’s an old WB thread on “sappy”. Some people say it refers to juicy, some to acidity, some to lack of acidity, and so on. So it’s kind of meaningless. In more common English, it can mean something that’s mawkish, and it’s slightly derogatory.
But he loves to talk about dry extract, which is what’s left over when the liquid parts of the wine are gone. I don’t know how the dusty solids can be sappy but does he actually know the chemistry of every wine he tastes or is he simply spouting off those words to make it sound like he’s more clued in than the average Joe? Based on his performance with the Rudy wines, I have to believe it’s the latter.
Sappy thread
[What does the term "sap" or "sappy" mean to you? - #16 by Robert.Fleming]
another sappy thread
("sappy" in wine description | Tom Cannavan's wine-pages.com)
and yet another
(What does "sap" or "sappy" mean to you? | Wine Spectator Forums)
I associate verticality with depth and horizontality (?) with length.
But does anyone else? Or are you just trying to guess at what Galloni’s term means. I can’t think of any other wine writer who uses it.
Now I am become Gran Selezione, destroyer of Sangiovese.
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Because depth is a common term used when referring to the vertical dimension (i.e., the water had a depth of 10 feet), and length is a common term used when referring to the horizontal dimension (the box has a length of 10 inches; and a depth of 4 inches)? I don’t think I’m making much of a stretch. I will sometimes describe a wine as having “good depth” or “good length,” and I don’t think I made up those descriptions. I’m not sure I’ve experienced explosive depth, but I haven’t had the 2018 Colonia yet. I personally would not use verticality or horizontality in a tasting note, but I’m not sure flagging use of synonyms is a good use of this thread. “Explosive verticality,” on the other hand, is fair game.
What’s the wine equivalent of a 10"Lx4"H box?
Funny, I would associate it the opposite way. Not saying you’re wrong at all. Just pointing out the confusion in the description
I would not do either.
As for verticality, it gets used a lot by basketball commentators, and it sounds just as dumb when they use it.
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Makes sense. Basketball players are extremely vertical.
Agreed. Using terminology above one’s pay grade can illustrate brutally why one is at one’s pay grade
That is a great observation.
But he has something else going on here: “Rugged, rocky terrain seems to amplify power, explosive verticality and acidity.”
The terrain somehow amplifies the explosiveness of the verticality as well as the power and acidity? Rocky terrain doesn’t have to imply mountains - it can simply mean rocks. Like on Mars. Flat and rocky. So how does that amplify anything? And places like Martinelli and Switchback Ridge have rocky vineyards, but amplified acidity isn’t something one usually associates with wines from either.
Seems like an outpouring of words with limited thought.
You are thinking through the comment a lot more thoroughly than the author did. Your comment makes me think about how rocky soils correspond to certain structures in wine taste profiles.
You are also reminding me that I once described the weird feral florals of a wine as “peonies out of an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel”, and I meant that as a positive…
Vertical is a standard test of how high one can jump (the test is called a standing vertical), so it rather makes sense when talking about basketball players. For that matter, the vertical test is also a test of explosiveness (both basketball and football physicals use the terms in that way), so AG’s metaphor has its roots in sports physiology. How that relates to wine is a bit of a mystery.
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Yes, but when shouted with outsized enthusiasm it still sounds stupid.