I know there are some who regard (at least) the technological aspects of Clark Smith's and/or Vinovation's (and similar companies') approach to winemaking with disdain, but I think he has some very interesting ideas. The presentation excerpts below are the kind of thing I wish there was more of in the wine world.
Part 1
Part 2
Some thoughts:
*Style profiling has its downfalls, of course, but can be very helpful when talking about typicity/terroir.
*Conducting comparative tastings where you don't know the producer, but you do know the region, winemaking and viticultural practises, seems a particularly sensible idea for assessing typicity/terroir characteristics (especially when the wines are grouped by region).
*The category of "distinctive wines", defined as being for consumers who are constantly looking to try something different, is a salient point (IMO, it's one of the defining features of a wine geek).
*I'm glad he discussed airborne aromatics, soil moisture content and composition, diurnal variations, living soil practises and clonal variation. Among winelovers, I think these are near-ignored/under-discussed influences on wine.
*He's been talking about the association and resonance between music and wine for years now, and I think this is an under-explored/?under-valued area. (I found the examples in the presentation particularly helpful in giving an impression of the wines he was discussing.) Winelovers talk plenty about food matching, but what about environmental matching (including music)?