What Are You Looking For In A Tasting Note?

mike_pobega · February 21, 2015, 12:23pm

I agree.
There have been times where I have accepted wines to taste, (more for opinion than a note) from a winemaker or two, but it is always mentioned in my note.

Michael_S_Monie · February 21, 2015, 1:25pm

I perused some of your recent contributions here: real erudite stuff.

craig_v · February 21, 2015, 2:59pm

I’d always like to know if the wine was PnP or decanted and how long. As said before, just a stand alone score is completely useless. Various fruit flavor descriptors are pretty useless too. I’m trying to gage how far along the wine is on its journey to peak drinking or if its starting its downslide. Notes describing its level of depth, weight and texture / structure are useful. Recent notes within the last year are also key. Three year old + notes are bordering on useless.

Stuart_BeauneHead_Niemtzow · February 21, 2015, 4:52pm

Is this for writing notes, Craig…or reading others’?

A premise that is unclear on this thread.

AlexS · February 21, 2015, 4:52pm

Tasting note descriptors & scores in wine publications and shelf talkers are perhaps most important for those still developing a palate and finding their way with wine (imo). For many starting off, they serve as both an important guide and source of excitement.

Me, I’ve been doing this wine thing for about 13-14 years now and back in the early days I must have subscribed to or regularly purchased most every wine publication available and primarily - if not solely at first - for the TNs and scores…WA, WS, W&S, WN, you name it. About 7-8 years ago, I realized the TNs & scores no longer impacted my buying decisions and served little purpose as I’d developed a good working base of what I wanted. By then, reading books & wine boards had turned into my go-to sources of info on new producers, regions, styles etc.

Now? I’ve developed a strong foundation of producers from many regions that I’ve found to be reliable and most of them tend to receive the majority of my budget, regardless of vintage. Which leads back to my initial post in this thread about style, structure and service as being most important when I’m reading notes nowadays. Descriptors definitely come into play and can be important but mostly when I’m considering taking a flyer on something unknown as a potential daily drinker or because I’m just plain curious about a new producer, variety and/or region and want to get a vicarious feel.

Matthew_King · February 21, 2015, 5:55pm

For current releases, the most important function of a tasting note is helping me decide if it’s a wine I might consider buying. So I appreciate a note that tries to place the wine in the hierarchy of its peer set.

I like to know if a wine has something a little special that lifts it above similar wines. I want to know if a wine transcends its class – the “punches above its weight” concept. E.g., if a village Burgundy drinks like a 1er cru, or a cru bourgeois Bordeaux drinks like a third-growth. In crowded marketplace, this kind of information helps me find (relatively) good QPR wines from producers like Bize or Sociando Mallet, to use my examples.

DougS · February 21, 2015, 7:24pm

I don’t think it’s unclear at all if you read the original post and title.

Stuart_BeauneHead_Niemtzow · February 21, 2015, 8:03pm

I do…sorry…i’ve re=read the first post several times …today and yesterday. (And, yes, I see you interpreted it as what you look for in someone else’s notes.)

If you think it’s clear…can you answer my question, Doug? That would be helpful, instead of telling me I’m wrong.

I think this is an interesting and fairly important inquiry…and since we all create notes, I think that’s the most interesting part of the inquiry…not what we want to see in others’ notes. But, both are interesting, I guess.

Dennis_Kanagie · February 21, 2015, 11:31pm

Really. I see where this confusion could come from too. It would be SUCH a pleasure to see a simple question answered with a simple reply rather than tweaking the questioner with a sarcastic response. Regardless of how clear the OP thinks their intentions were, would it take any extra energy to be polite rather than taking a shot at someone who doesn’t quite get it?

Social media like these forums are causing anti-social tendencies like a loss of common courtesy and civility.

Tran_Bronstein · February 22, 2015, 2:20am

The most obvious thing I look for is how the wine actually TASTES. It’s called a tasting note for a reason! Yet I am always annoyed/amazed/disappointed at how many people actually leave this off! I especially get pissed when a professional wine critic does it. You know, the people who unlike you and I are actually PAID to tell me what a wine actually is supposed to taste like!

edwardmilstein · February 22, 2015, 5:27pm

Whether I’m writing or reading I’d like to see impressions related to -
Aromatics
Fruit
Balance ( acidity if relevant )
Length ( structure/tannins/longevity )
Palate experience ( nature of the front ,middle or finish of the wine ) includes viscosity if exceptional
Flaws( can be incl in palate exp )
Overall impression

harry_spithoven · February 22, 2015, 5:51pm

For me it is not what, but who
If I know that person, and his taste matches with mine… then I am not waiting for 50 shades of Cabernet

GregT · February 22, 2015, 5:58pm

Social media like these forums are causing anti-social tendencies like a loss of common courtesy and civility.

Then why would you participate?

I couldn’t disagree more. A forum like this attracts all kinds of people, some plain-spoken and some not so much. The most sensitive types with the thinnest skins turn into the civility police and try to turn everyone into girl scouts.

Nothing in the exchange between Doug and Stuart was uncivil in any way. Both of those guys are adults and speak their minds.

BTW - both have been around here for a few years. They’ve figured out how it all works.

J_a_y_H_a_c_k · February 22, 2015, 5:59pm

Who wrote it.

Ian_Sutton · February 22, 2015, 6:05pm

Dennis_Kanagie · February 23, 2015, 5:05am

Because I have questions about wine and hoped to find some like minded people. Unless you’re trying to drive me away. [sarcasm] After all, what forum needs new members with fresh views, right? [/sarcasm]

There was an OBVIOUS tone to the reply, and the subsequent reply made it also obvious that it wasn’t entirely welcome.

ps - I don’t have thin skin at all and I’m no girl scout, but thank you for the insult. I bow to your superiorness.

… oops, forgot to use the sarcasm font on that last sentence.

Really.