Reviewer Language

I get the feeling sometimes that reviewers (who admittedly have a difficult job writing notes about the same old thing all day and trying to make it sound fresh) must have a computer program that spits out tasting note terms for them and then they just rearrange them as they see fit.

Here is Suckling on the 2015 Talenti Brunello:

There’s freshness galore here in the form of orange zest and citrus peel. But this Brunello isn’t short on power either; red licorice, cardamom and dried hibiscus pepper the nose. To support the ripe fruit are layers of sinewy tannins and gliding acidity, making for an altogether sophisticated and edgy impression. Refined and elegant on the long finish.

Hmm - I thought that orange zest WAS by definition a citrus peel, so what is the difference?

Red licorice in a Brunello? OK, I guess I can conceive of that, but I do not recall ever sniffing dried hibiscus, nor being able to differentiate between dried and fresh based on odour, though for all I know SWMBO, who is fond of some herbal teas, may actually possess some. Interested to know if 'peppering the nose' is different from 'salting the nose"

Also not that sure of what makes tannins 'sinewy'. For me they are either young and hard, or softening, or silky supple mature tannins in old wines

Acidity can definitely be described as adding edge and balance to a wine, but not sure what 'gliding acidity' is as opposed to skateboarding or jogging acidity. Maybe I am just not 'refined and elegant' enough to comprehend the elevated sensibility and language used by the current critics?

Well, at least it's not "oodles and gobs of hedonistic fruit".

I agree, Bill. A reviewer dissecting complex aromas and flavors in wine, and being very specific about what they experienced, is valuable. But if the purpose of the review is to convey the experience of tasting the wine to the reader, it's useless to use descriptors such as dried hibiscus that most readers won't encounter. Unless the review is being written just so the reviewer can brag about their obscure olfactory experiences.

Be specific about the aroma and flavor profile of the wine if you wish. But use comparisons and terms that your readers can relate to. Or just say something like "classic Brunello flavors", that anyone who's tried Brunello can understand.

There's a whole class of humorous computer programs out there called fuzz-phrase generators that just randomly stick together jargon from a particular field. I've seen them for producing business proposals, and also for randomly generating academic paper abstracts. It would be a hoot to do one for wine reviews.

-Paul W.

This one is fun, Paul.

https://phrasegenerator.com/wine

Examples:

The 1999 Pinot Noir from Dubois Winery brings us reptilian velvet essences with a playful cilantro flavor.

Bird Glen Vineyards coalesces fickle parsnip elements and a crusty sloppy joe perfume in their 2012 Bordeaux.

Nerf Winery fuses pleasant wintergreen midtones and a scintillating onion finish in their 1998 Zinfandel.


I have seen RP write things that no one has ever tasted (if they are smart)

I have seen RP write things that no one has ever tasted (if they are smart)

My favorite RP review included the line "the vinous equivalent of Liquid Plumber". That wine got a score of 52. I brought that wine to my Dungeons & Dragons group. We each took one sip and immediately spat it out. There then followed a long discussion of what to do with the rest of the bottle. Our host refused to let us pour it down his sink. He also didn't want us to pour it out next to the front doorstep. He was worried it would kill his bushes.

I always wondered what he awarded the two points for (50 is the lowest possible score on the RP scale). I suppose it got one point for being a red liquid and one point because however foul it was, it wasn't actually poisonous.

-Paul W.

He gave a humorous review on the 1965 Mouton but seems to have expunged it from his collected review books.

Back when RP was first getting started with The Wine Advocate, he used to buy wine at local Washington DC wine shops and review whatever he could get his hands on with the limited budget he had. He published some very witty, scathing reviews of some dreadful wines in those days. Once the 1982 Bordeaux vintage propelled him to stardom, RP had access to enough good wines that there was no need to publish reviews of mediocre/poor wines to fill the magazine. Also his success made him a big enough lawsuit target that it would be unwise to publish really bad reviews. But he had a great turn of phrase in those early days.

-Paul W.

I use "lithe" a lot. I never use sinewy and now I'm glad because I think that's what suckling meant, but if you think of a sinewy chicken dish, the adjective will convey an unappealing sensation.

I'll have to remember that for my notes, Chaim. "It was a black chicken of a wine....."