How to know a wine writer has lost it

Recent tweet from Alice F.

"Am convinced that Coturri is a national treasure."

1. You could just read a lot of her other rants, which aren't much closer to the mark than that tweet.

2. Since when do you pay attention to Alice Feiring's twittering?

I accept the points raised about all criticism having a subjective side. Let me, however comment as I have in the past with one example.

I can assure one and all that if I live to be 120 years old, I will never walk into a wine shop and purchase a bottle of off-dry Emerald Riesling for my personal pleasure. Simply stated, I cannot tolerate those wines from a personal and thus fully subjective point of view. On the other hand, when called on to review one of those wines, that personal dislike is pushed aside completely (and I use the word "completely" with full awareness), for the task at hand is not my pleasure but an evaluation of the wine. With apologies, relating to scores, indeed an off-dry Emerald Riesling will never attain a score of let's say 90 or above and that not because of personal or subjective matters but because the Emerald Riesling grape is simply incapable of yielding a wine that meets the standards of excellence.

Going one step further, I will not dis such wines. Nor will I dis the people who enjoy them because those who do find pleasure in these wines are as fully entitled to their pleasure as I may be with a fine Brunello or an excellent Bordeaux red.

Agreed as well that in every form of criticism it may well be the subjective portion that gives readers the tools they need to adjust that writing of the critic to their own needs.

Best
Rogov

[David M. Bueker]

2. Since when do you pay attention to Alice Feiring's twittering?

I don't really. Saw something about this one & had to comment.

the Emerald Riesling grape is simply incapable of yielding a wine that meets the standards of excellence.

Going one step further, I will not dis such wines.

I think you just did

Rahsaan, Hi...

Point taken.

Best
Rogov

Not that I disagree of course! Although I've never had an Emerald Riesling wine, so it's definitely presumptuous of me to agree. But I've had some Welsh Riesling that persuaded me of the "inferiority" of at least that riesling offshoot. Which may or may not be related to "true" riesling. I don't know.

Anyway, back to objectivity, Coturri, and Feiring...

Anyway, back to objectivity, Coturri, and Feiring...

Wow. Not often you see those three words in the same sentence.

I have had Emerald Riesling.

It's wet, and it's made from grapes.

I've never had an Emerald Riesling made as a "natural wine", however.

I'm assuming that would be wet and made from grapes as well, though prone to spoilage, short-lived, potentially rampant with odd bacterial colonies, and raved over by enthusiastic importers of natural wines, enthusiastic wine writers who are looking for a hook of notoriety and trendy sommeliers who are looking for something different so they can show people how neat they are.

[Robin Garr]

I have had Emerald Riesling.

Didn't Paul Masson sell it in a super-tall bottle, back in the day? I thought it was real good stuff around 1970. It was smooth and it was sweet.

I have had Emerald Riesling.

Didn't Paul Masson sell it in a super-tall bottle, back in the day? I thought it was real good stuff around 1970. It was smooth and it was sweet.

We were so much younger then. And were not as yet aware of the many options we would eventually have.

There was also---I believe from Wente primarily, but I might be wrong---the Grey Riesling. Which, of course, wasn't Riesling at all. But it also did okay in a pinch. And the venerable Wente Blanc de Blancs, of which one could say, "It was better than it had to be."

(Of course, any of these wines, the Emerald Riesling, the Grey Riesling, and the BdB, would constitute a very effective argument FOR 'natural wine", since they were in no way natural and would represent the height of contrivance and synthetic artificiality the naturalistas are striving against. )

Reflecting on the question and realizing that there often comes a time when every critic (or for that matter, every teacher "loses it". Unfortunately, one rarely realizes that by oneself and so hopes for three things: (a) a few truly good friends who will find the right way to tell you; and (b) the wisdom to listen to those good friends and weigh their advice with care; and (c) the ability to withdraw from the critical (or teaching) scene with grace.

Best
Rogov

Reflecting on the question and realizing that there often comes a time when every critic (or for that matter, every teacher "loses it". Unfortunately, one rarely realizes that by oneself and so hopes for three things: (a) a few truly good friends who will find the right way to tell you; and (b) the wisdom to listen to those good friends and weigh their advice with care; and (c) the ability to withdraw from the critical (or teaching) scene with grace.

My friend,
I am told that the unexamined life is not worth living. I don't believe everything I hear.
Good critics hold themselves to high standards and are hard on themselves - these things are evident in your writings and in some others. But there is validity and value in experience, especially when the writer places ego on the back burner.
So I would say to those who feel they might have "lost it" - don't take yourselves so seriously. No one loses their life here; no one is maimed or harmed. I have always thought that the very best thing a wine critic can be is an ambassador for wine. And who better than one with decades of experience?
I look forward to reading your comments and those other critics with some reasonable degree of humility, for years to come.
Best, Jim

There was also---I believe from Wente primarily, but I might be wrong---the Grey Riesling. Which, of course, wasn't Riesling at all. But it also did okay in a pinch.

Ah, but what Grey Riesling was and is is Trousseau Gris, now being made by Wind Gap, and a very appealing and interesting wine it is. It may even be "natural" (whatever that is) for all I know. Oliver was even at the dinner where I had the wine, now that I think on it.

Mark Lipton