For the ones who are self-conscious about posting tasting notes, the best thing to do is just to do it, write them up, and ideally post them too as we all gain from them.
Sense of taste is likely the most subjective thing ever. Tasting notes should never be criticized or commented on based on any objective metric (apart from the absurd word salad ones that we all like to laugh at, but I doubt any newer posters would go with the vertical laser beams of tannin-descriptions). We all feel/remember/think of taste differently, and for some āgraphiteā is a thing they consider a taste, even though we all know graphite is flavorless and odorless so from an objective perspective, it makes no sense. Yet to you, it may.
Hereās an example how subjective it is. I donāt know what milk tastes like. Last time I had milk was 40 years ago and I obviously have no recollection of it. Iām sure most of you would know what milk tastes like, so if someone talks about lactic notes in their wine, hell, those lactic notes are probably completely different to me than what they are to you.
As a young person - wanted to say that this thread is great! Motivation to not lurk (which is my tendency) and start to interact!
It was rather difficult to discover this community - surprising now that Iām a part of it. However I am doing some sort of search related to a wine topic just about daily. And it took about a year before I discovered WB. Unsure how it could be made more visible, but I know Iām sure glad I found it!
And most importantly, if someone disagrees, donāt let that undermine your confidence in the note. If you liked the wine, if you got those elements in the wine, the fact that some stranger didnāt should not make you question your own reality. No matter who that stranger is.
sometimes a wine comes across as āoakyā to me. It is then later pointed-out that it āsaw no new oakā. My response? āWell, something in there smelled/tasted like oak to me ā whether that was oak, something else, or whatever ā¦ bottom line: it came across as oaky to me.ā
Same thing with āstemmy.ā
I recently had a 2001 JJ Prum Auslese. It had one characteristic that suggested it was presenting as youthful. It had another characteristic that suggested it was presented as early mature. So what did I do? Did I choose to not post my TN altogether? No. Did I delete one of the characteristics from my TN to elminate the apparent discrepancy? No. I just let it be, and called it like I perceived it, apparent contradiction be damned! And here I am ā lived to tell the tale!!
TNās should be read as perceptions, as opinions, not as facts. And everyone is the worldās leading expert on their own interpretations of their own perceptions. Hoping folks remember that.
Younger person here. To any other young people lurking - take the leap!! Iāve made great friends through this forum and have been able to deepen my wine knowledge dramatically both online and in person. Iāve discovered new producers - both local and abroad - that I never wouldāve known about if not for this forum. (Shoutout especially to Goodfellow for being a household fave now. Was not familiar with them 3 years ago and now weāre serving it at our wedding party this summer!)
Only thing Iāll say thatās not often talked about here is - watch out for FOMO and lifestyle creep. Youāre gonna hear about so many wines and wineries and youāre gonna want to try all of them. Thereās all sorts of deals and coupon codes and up-and-coming producers doing XYZ that are going to sound amazingā¦ but donāt forget to set a budget and donāt be afraid to say no sometimes haha (I didnāt own an ArteVino before joining this forum so this is a real thing to look out for! lol)
I remember years ago going to Opus One on my own. I ordered a glass at the tasting room and thought - it couldnāt get better than this. I couldāve been perfectly content with that life . This forum has opened my eyes (and my wallet) for sure
But there are probably as much tasting notes saying they find prominent toasty notes and lots of vanilla in wines aged in terracotta amphorae or concrete tanks!
I recommend that newer wine drinkers (whether older or younger) look around (use the search function) and find threads about what they are interested in. Yes, it is going to be intimidating to read about 50 year old wines from Burgundy or Bordeaux or California that now cost a fortune. But, remember that the $200 1982 Bordeaux in many cases cost the guy posting about it around $15 in 1983 when the person bought the wine on futures. So, even many of the guys drinking really expensive wines did not pay a fortune for those wines and today is looking for wines that are well priced and not really expensive wines.
Read posts by Alfert and Julian Marshall on affordable Bordeaux. And, by all means, read posts by Otto, who posts wonderful tasting notes on wines (include many obscure wines) from all around the world.
So, yes, all of us should be encouraging to newer and younger members. But, frankly, they have to ask questions and not just post on wines they think are great that more experienced members know will fall apart in a few years. The newbies who ask questions and donāt pretend to know more than they know will do a lot better on this board. A lot of people will step in to help people get started who ask for help.
And, newbies really have to use the search feature. I am sure that there are threads on everything they want to talk about, but they have to look for them.
