Interesting read. Brad Coelho always makes fun of critics, by saying that that have a tasting review “drop down box” on their computer to compile TNs with. Meaning that when they run out of things to say about the wine, they just see what is available in the “drop down box” and fill in the blanks.
As I read these very different TNs from the critic here, it makes me wonder. Nevermind the fact that the winery is listed as coming from 2 different countries.
Thanks Daniel. How apt in light of other threads. It’s telling (at least to me) that authorities from the Monell Institute are on record suggesting that most people might be able to distinquish three or four flavors (aromas as well?), max, reproducibly?
In fairness I thought this was going to be one review stating “This wine is great” and another “This wine is just ok”
I mean…You are tasting 2,000,000 wines a year, you’re gonna say cedar once and vanilla another time. Not an issue.
What I wonder is is Jay getting all these wines mixed up. There is a high end “Clos Apalta”. Then there is a merlot and a cab called cuvee alexandria (maybe they added apalta vineyard now) but he may be getting these mixed up.
More likely to be a printing or database error where the same wine name got attached to the wrong review (the Arg one) and it got missed in the editing process. Eric and I find these occasionally when mapping pro wine reviews for CT.
Amusing that it is Jay’s and he may well have been amiss during the editing process, but it doesn’t say anything about tasting, tasters or of significance.
Ive been to blind tastings where the same wine has been in seperate flights and a significant portion of the room scores and describes them quite differently. Seeing this and other things enough times makes me feelm like the best way to evaluate a wine is still blind but with larger pours and a chance to spend all night with them.
Looks like another false arrest by Robin Goldstein to me. While getting the country wrong is embarrassing, the notes are actually impressively consistent. There is nothing strange about describing something as “clove” one time and “spice box” the next. Even though some of the terms differ, the more fundamental ones are consistent, and if you read those notes and did not know they were the same wine, you would certainly get the impression that they were very similar wines.
For those who don’t remember, Robin Goldstein is the guy who tried to promote his book a few years ago by getting a Wine Spectator award of excellence for a restaurant that didn’t exist. He tried to embarrass the Spectator further by claiming that the wines on the list had been trashed by the Spectator, and released a fake “reserve” list he submitted of those wines. But he did not release the rest of the list he submitted which did not contain poorly reviewed wines, so the big irony of the story - Spectator gives award to list of wines it trashed! - turned out not to be true.
Dan: Enough already. Get a life. Root for the Lakers or the Saints. Drink some La tache. Go meet a cocktail waitress. Do something! You need to get out of this rut.
(that should cure him)