MattThr wrote:One question I forgot - I didn't bother with a score because it seemed silly for me to be rating things out of 10/20/100/whatever when my wine experience doesn't extend to the upmost reaches of the scale. Would tasting notes typically provide one, and if so, is there any way to make up for the lack of experience except to increase my disposable income to the level where I can buy £200+ bottles of first growth Bordeaux?
Matt, I would say the majority of people on this board don't use points, and that's regardless of experience level. Which is not to say that some of us don't use a system of sorts. At tastings where a lot of wines are involved, I use a simple grade school grading system of A-D and F wherein C is average, and ='s and -'s add degrees. Reading back through notes later, it helps me sort out which wines I liked better than others, which were equal, and which were less than satisfactory. I rarely include those in the tasting notes I write, however, and instead favor the words good, very good, excellent and outstanding to categorically relate how much I liked the wine. And those last words, how much I liked the wine, are potent: I make no pretense at objectivity. The other wines present, the food, and even the company all influence the wine experience. I once thought that as I gained more experience I would become more inclined to score wines by points, but in fact I've become less so because I've learned that wine criticism is far more subjective than I thought. Really, it all comes down to taste. For instance , Parker gives big points to wines with a lot of extract and ripe sweetness--attributes many (including me) would deduct points for.
You mention first growth Bordeaux, so you're no doubt aware that one of the great Bordeaux reviewers in the world is Britain's own Michael Broadbent. How does he rate wines? Stars. Four is tops. It would definitely be a good idea for you to adopt some type of system just to sort out your own thoughts over time, but do points make a better tasting note? No, it's the words that count. So go simple. After all, you're not an expert, and your reactions/responses aren't going to be consistent over time. If you do everything right, a Matt 92 today is probably going to be a Matt 88 by this time next year.
Btw, good program on buying cases, but don't apologise for drinking them as you go along. That's how you'll learn. Drink one of each about every six months and take notes each time. Each time you open a bottle look back at your notes from six months ago, and compare. At the point you think the wine has declined instead of improved, then drink another one soon and see if you find that bottle identical. If it is, then put the rest of the case in the drinking queue. Don't rush to consume them but once they've, to your taste, peaked, it's time. Oh, and expect your idea of 'peak' to change over time, too. That's what makes it such a fun hobby.
