This stake should be driven through the hearts of all would-be wine critics, but...

WINE TALK
1

The Mole Man ends up being (terroir-driven) dust on this particular occasion. Don’t time the finish on your latest sip of wine. Time how long it takes you to get up off of the floor and breathe again after you read the snow leopard line!

http://www.timatkin.com/articles?1035

2

Clever and funny link. Thanks for posting.

3

“Molesworth’s genius for twaddle.”
[dance-clap.gif]

funny stuff

4

It would take more money than I would be willing to waste to stage the event, but I would love to put Molesworth and Neal Martin in an auditorium with a mixed case of wines, two laptops, two thesauri and a live audience, and let them duke it out for the most useless, pretentious and totally fabricated tasting note of all time. Until I read what The HoseMaster used in his piece, I would have thought Martin would have been the linden-flower-and-marzipan hand’s-down winner, but now I am not so sure. Moleworth’s pretension and absurdity is on the rise, while Martin is merely treading wine at this moment…

5

Holy awesome.

6

I enjoyed that. Thanks for the link

7

I dream of creamed pairs… Er, pears.

8

Love this line:

“We felt that the wine writer’s body of work had to reflect a consistent style of reviewing, one that obfuscates and befuddles.”

9

Funny… The fruit descriptors are a little over the top, but I actually came away from his notes with a pretty good idea of the style of each wine.

10

And most of us thought that “lush linzer torte” is on everyone’s menu, especially those people that review wines for a living or just part time amateurs…but wouldn’t the impressions vary with the choice of fruits in the torte? [wink.gif]

Delightful article ! [rofl.gif]

Hank [cheers.gif]

11

He’s paid by the adjective.

12

It has to be discounted because the target was so easy to hit, but yes, very funny

13

Oddly enough, I did too. That said, I know almost nothing about this critic and thought the article hysterical. Had to look up some of those fruits . . . .

14

I adore Linzer Torte. And I’ve enjoyed on occasion a nice Chateauneuf du Pape. But I’m not sure I want them together.

15

+1

16

Bill,
For me, Neal’s notes are easy to relate except a few fancy adjectives. I however find his ability to always find/score FGs at top in single blind incredible.

17

Hmmm…funny in places, but in the end it’s even more overwritten than the TNs!

18

I thought it was brilliant, although yes, makes a grab for some low-hanging fruit.

19

Like I already said a few times here; describing wine sensory experience with words has very little value because of the way the brain is wired from the olfactory input standpoint.

I think describing wine with such allegory verbage really goes off on a tangent to what great wine is about.

I do not recall people trying to describe wine in terms of other, more identifiable items 30-40 years ago, and again, I don’t undestand what sensations peaches, black fruits, honeysuckle,suchong tea have to do with fine wine appreciation.

1 Like
20

Perhaps you could describe with a tad more precision the exact aromas and flavors of those low-hanging fruits. [snort.gif]

Funny stuff, even if a relatively easy target.

Bruce