fjlosada wrote:Manuel, you are a master at tweaking your own arguments. My hat off to you. You were asked whether you tasted the single vineyard Trapiches and your answer was "Yes. The longer version of my impressions involves several dozen expletives which may offend the easily offensible etc etc..." What longer version are you talking about? Where is that long version of your tasting notes you mentioned? And now the story is that some friend "inflicted" the wine on you? To be frank, after what you wrote following your visit to Buenos Aires I have a hard time believing you kept trying Argentine malbecs, or even that you hang out with people who drink them regularly.
Fernando,
I will answer this message, even though its insolent--and frankly rather unintelligent--tone and implications about my person and my ethics would seem to be a violation of the rules of this forum. I believe this kind of base attack should never go uncontested.
Obviously you didn't catch the facetious nature of my "the longer version" comment. I was talking about what is in my notebook about the T2003 Trapiche Felipe Villafane Malbec. If you have been following any of the wine boards I frequent over the past few months, you will have noticed a certain absence of tasting notes on my part. I have been very busy with issues that are none of your concern and, thus, unable to sit down and tpe up some reports, including one of a trip to Piedmont and Venice, another of wining and dining in San Francisco, plus notes on any number of tastings and dinners attended since, say, last October.
The Felipe Villafane was, as I say in a playful manner, "inflicted" upon me by a friend. I accepted a glass of the wine, did not like it, and made a quick note about this in my notebook, hoping to have the time at some other point to post it (though at that time this site was inactive, so it would have gone to Wine Therapy). SO there you go: You are babbling about an as-yet-unpublished piece of writing. I commented briefly on my negative impression of that wine, which I found overwooded and not especially interesting, because we were on the subject of Malbec and that wine had, coincidentally, been brought up. No "hiding" of anything. No twisting of anything else. I consider many people here friends with whom, in conversation, I can simply say "Hey, you know I tried that the other day and didn't like it..." without there having to be some sort of "official record" of every single thing I taste.
You seem to boil down the entirety of my experience with Argentine wine to that one visit to Buenos Aires. That happened a while ago. A lot of wine has flowed out of bottles and into glasses since then, some of it good, some of it bad. If one can accuse me of anything, it's of dereliction of some sort of "duty" for not posting my every jotting. But then again, I am not duty-bound by wine... But more on this later.
Re Achaval Ferrer. Did you actually taste the wine? Or maybe the tasting notes for the Finca Altamira are in the "longer version" of your travelogue and I also missed them. Unlucky me.
Again, you are assuming things and casting aspersions that are highly offensive. You are implying that I didn't taste a wine and made my comments up, no? Well, all I can say is that we discussed a bottling of Achaval Ferrer after I had already posted that "Travelogue". You recommended the bodega and I dutifully went and bought a bottle of something by them from Astor Wines for, if I can remember correctly, about $30. I don't think it was that "inca Altamira", though, since what sticks in my mind is a more fanciful name. Also, I seem to recall that that Finca Altamira is quite expensive. I remember saying that the wine I hadwas okay, but that it hardly justified its price in terms of the competition it has from all over the world. Or something like that. It would seem that the only one who's making stuff up here, and doing so in the spirit of attacking me, is you.
Re "my impassioned defense of malbecs". Please re-read what I wrote. I said clearly that there are lots of plonkish malbecs being made in Argentina, lots of good ones, and some excellent ones.
Well, the way you attack when I dare say that I personally dislike cetain Argentine enoproducts is evidence enough of a will to defend those prducts. Passionately. And rather clumsily, too. Remember, personal tastes and personal standards can vary from person to person. What is great to you may be mediocre to me, and what is great to me, mediocre to you. I have a right to express my opinions. I take extra care to makje them informed opinons. And I keep them on the subject of wine. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of differentiating between discourse on wine and discourse on me.
Allow me to offer your own words as a clear example of how we should be talking about wine: "Re Clos Roche Blanche. They do make a pretty nice cot. To my taste, it lacks depth in the mid palate, but it is a pretty wine. Indeed, CRB is a very, very good producer, as their sauvignon blanc and their cab are also very recommendable. Is their malbec comparable to the best from Argentina? Not by any stretch of the imagination, according to my taste."
My taste (and Jay's) stand in stark contrast to yours. But there's no need to start talking trash about anyone just because they happen to differ with you on something as personal as the wines you like...
Re the points and the hype. You got the wrong person here. I don't live by the points, I don't buy by the points. I'm not subscriber to any wine magazine*. I don't follow any wine messiah - neither Parker nor Jancis nor Molesworth - nor Dawes. I have no agenda. I don't work in the wine industry. I'm not a wine journalist, and I don't pretend to be one. I call it as I see it - or as I taste it. And I couldn't care less whether the wine was made by Rolland or by "mi abuelita", as long as what I taste is good. How about yourself?
Glad to see we are both on the same footing, then, though I do resent what the question at the end seems to imply. I am a consumer. I am passionate about wine and value certain styles of it very highly. Others, though, have yet to prove themselves to me.
As far as "being a journalist, or pretending to be one", well, I live with a journalist. I know what they make. I have no desire to be one, or see the point of pretending to be one. I just like to write. I especially like to write abotu wine. But I do so as an amateur who never wants to be mistaken for a "professional". Ever.
As far as your finding it "hard to believe" that I've tasted any more Argentine wines after that trip to Buenos Aires... Think again.Maybe thie fact that I have speaks of a masochistic streak in me. Or maybe it's just that on certain social occasions those wines are proferred by hosts who like them and believe their guests (with me among these last) will enjoy the wines, too. Or maybe I just happen to get a gift. Things like that happen. I must say that the tastings beyond that Travelogue on which you are so fixated (it invlved the impressions of a moment in time; get over it...) have led me to reassess certain of the wines I knocked before. For example, a latter sample of that "Crios" Torrontés by Susana Balbo was quite nice, in opposition to the smaple I had before the trip to Buenos Aires, which was, frankly and, more importantly, to me (oh well, and to my companion) vile.
I hope we can discuss wine in a civilized manner. I hope you can refrain from trying to cast doubt on my integrity or attribute to me conflicts of interest that don't exist. We can talk about why we like what we like and perhaps that will lead to a better understanding of what each other is saying about wine. But if all we have is "puyas" and personal attacks, I don't know that this talk is worth having.[/i][/quote]
