The Impossible / Unavoidable Tasting Note

Blind Muscat spent most of last week at the Symposium for Pprofessional Wine Writers in the heart of the Napa Valley--sometimes known as the Famous Wine Writers School. A number of interesting sessions transpired, about which more in near-future posts.

One of the most provocative segments was kicked of with a presentation by Eric Asimov, wine writer for the New York Times, titled “The Tyranny of the Tasting Note.” Asimov argued persuasively that overblown tasting notes—he cited some mind-boggling examples—are a prime source of the pervasive Wine Anxiety afoot in the US of A. Tasting notes cosseted in run-on sentences full of arcane descriptors and near-pornographic verb choices make most readers think they are idiots, or at least sense-impaired. Such notes amount to intimidation, not information, and they are surely not an invitation to pleasure, which is what wine writing should be about.