The book was far different from my expectations. I was expecting another wine-travel book along the lines of KermitLynch's, w/ countless anecdotes of visits w/ his wineries.
Not so. It's a book chock-a-block w/ Terry's thoughts & ruminations on the wine world. Some of it still a bit esoteric and WooWoo for even my mind to understand. It's a very thoughtful and very thought-provoking book that should be read by every wine geek, whether they like German/Austrian wines are not. He has an incredible vocabulary that made me turn to my dictionary (seems so quaint these days, doesn't it) any number of times. Filled w/ many clever turns-of-phrase. And his recounting of many of his wine experiences can be absolutely moving and bring you to tears. Truly an extraordinary book I must say.
The Chapter "Pressing Hot Buttons" is particularly worth the read. His discussions on point-scoring and globalization of wine/Parker palate are particularly insightful. And he's not adverse to mention Parker by name, though he doesn't tear into him w/ the bulldog ferocity of Alice F***ing and others of her ilk. He keeps the discussion civil and trys to find the common ground.
Writers are well advised to write humanely, because it is good to be humane. Any professional who uses words does well to shade them so as not to deliver gratuitous insults to people with dubious or uneducated taste.
Hmmmmmm...wonder who he's referring to there??
It won't hurt to repeat this: point systems, any of them, may or may not be usefulin strict consumerist terms.
To use one example. are riper wines imherently better than less-ripe wines because of their additional concentration?
"It depends" is his conclusion.
On experienced professional tasters and wiggle-room in their awarding of scores:
...their hands are tied if they're selling omniscience.... To remain credible you have to affect (or feign) omniscience.
That is to say, you can't be wishy-washy. You have to award your scores w/ great authority.
On Parker and him being the lightning rod over the subject of wine globalization:
I wish I could say he has risen to the occasion and comported himself w/ the civility incumbent upon a grand elder of the wine world. Alas, he hasn't....his many reasonable points are frequently diminished by a tone of defensiveness, invective, and name-calling....He has also trotted out that hoariest of labels, "pseude-intellectual", to characterize his opponents.
Rather direct, but civil, I thought.
On "natural" wines:
You can ferment au natural with ambient yeasts or else use cultured yeasts, and only the very best tasters could tell the two apart.
On minerality:
...the M-word. It's a lightning rod for an often contentious debate that's usually conducted dishonestly.
Loved his characterization of Scheurebe:
Scheurebe...It's Riesling's evil,horny twin.
I need to be trying more Scheurebe, methinks.
Anyway, that's a bit of the flavor I got from Terry's wonderful book. A stunning & thoughtful read.
Tom
