21 January 2007
Objective vs Subjective
I pay a lot of attention to the scores wine critics place on bottles. Being very new to wine, these ratings provide adequate guidance to purchasing those valued prize bottles, especially when on a budget. I find it very helpful when retailers offer categories such as “90+ under $20”, this allows the enthusiast to make a purchase less blindly.
A high score, however, does not guarantee you’ll enjoy the bottle. I’ve had plenty of 90+ Wine Spectator rated wines that I found tough on my palate. The same goes to critics like Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer. The truth is that these ratings are the result of one person’s opinion, and you don’t have to be told again, “everybody is different.”
Why you may dislike a very highly rated bottle and love a relegated bottle is the separation of objective vs subjective. And it should be noted that the scores from wine critics should be taken with a grain of salt. This can be paralleled with movies or even literature. You can dislike The Godfather yet still agree that it is great cinematography; or, you can truly enjoy The Da Vinci Code knowing that it is not the best example of fine literature.
So where is the line drawn with wine? I have adopted 5 key characteristics to help me objectively evaluate a bottle of wine and separate it from my subjective opinion. These are 5 characteristics I picked up from reading Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible (an EXCELLENT reference for all wine enthusiasts).
Distinct varietal character is extremely crucial for a good bottle of wine. A New York strip steak should not taste like chicken, a Washington apple should not taste like a pear, and a cabernet sauvignon should not taste like a pinot noir. By exposing your palate to diverse wines and varietals (grapes), the more your can learn about each varietal and the greater your appreciation for the flavors and aromas one varietal can achieve.
Integrity or balance adds to an objective accomplishment in a bottle of wine. When the pieces of a complete wine – such as acid, tannin, fruit, alcohol, etc… – round out in complete harmony, it is more difficult to pick out the tinto’s single components. The wine consumer should ultimately seek out this harmony in wine composition.
Expressiveness refers to a wine’s ability to more lucidly depict its true structure and composition. Without expressiveness, a bottle of wine could be considered “cloudy” (not visually) or out of focus, lacking the ability to exhibit its true character.
Complexity is not necessarily something you can measure; rather, it is the force that pulls you in for another whiff or taste of the wine. As there are novels that you can continue pondering for days, thinking about characters or plot development, complexity in wine makes you think about the flavors exhibited and invites you to discover something more. Like a well balanced wine, a highly complex wine may challenge you to describe it, but this wearisome effort is usually one that reinforces wine’s gratification.
Connectedness is the most important element of a wine’s objective evaluation in my personal opinion. I appreciate wine and its nuances because I find it as a way as understanding and taking in the land and culture from which it was produced. Connectedness is the union between the vino and the soil from which its grapes grew. I think Karen MacNeil says it perfectly: “Wine without connectedness to the ground from which it came may be of good quality but, like a Ramada Inn in Pamplona, there is a limit to how deep one’s aesthetic appreciation of it can be” (p. 6).
In my Cork’d profile, I award a star to each characteristic I think a bottle demonstrates. I then tag the review with my own score based on the ubiquitous 100-point scale.
I hope that this ultimately helps you separate your subjective view from your objective stance on a bottle of wine, and ultimately help you appreciate wine more and help you find more of what you like.
-Nico
Latest wine evaluated at time of post:
2003 Bodegas y Viñedos Pujanza, Rioja
(label image is of 2001 vintage instead of 2003)
Clearly stated on what you look for in a wine…especially through a budget wise perspective…
— Michael Sanchez Jan 22 #