When I look out at the wine industry today, I have to say, I am saddened. Gigantic conglomerates and greedy men now control a vast majority of our domestic wine. They have three major publications they need to win over in order to sell their wine and fatten their shareholders pockets. These publications have unknowingly set up a system in which it becomes very easy to pass off an imitation as a master piece.
Wine is art and like fine art in order to properly appreciate it you must enjoy it relative to context. Without context it loses its beauty and meaning. Imagine trying to appreciate and understand a Rembrandt or a Picasso if you are only allowed to look at it for 15 seconds. Not understanding the painter, the period, or the circumstances all you have is a glimpse. Now imagine looking at 200 pieces of art from different artist in a single day, all that way. How could you even begin to see the differences and similarities? You could not even begin to comprehend the beauty behind what you saw. All the while, you are jotting notes from what you can grasp in those few moments reducing everything to a score. What if someone slipped in a fake? Would you be able to tell? In that short time span would you miss the important features that would tell you this is not a work of art, but simply a copy? It would be impossible to tell; and what of the score? It is meaningless.
Art is subjective, as is wine. What I taste you may not, what you taste I may not. How can you reduce something to a number after spending 15 seconds with it? How would I score your personality when we meet for the first time? First impressions are most often awkward and horrible. It does not work with art. It does not work with wine. We need to learn to appreciate and understand wine. We need to fall in love with its beauty and mystery. Great wine is an ethereal experience. It gladdens the heart and brings us to a story of the land. It possesses personality, uniqueness, and beauty. How can grapes produce all these beautiful seamless flavors that have nothing to do with the grape itself? How does it enhance and bring out new flavors of itself and its partner when enjoyed with food? How can it change so dramatically and age so gracefully over time? It is the land, grapes, yeasts, and a storage vessel, that is all. Working to create something beautiful. Anything else becomes a fake.
wow, nice connection between rating of art and rating of wine. According to your article, you seem very annoyed by ratings. How do you feel about Robert Parker and everything he has done for the wine world? Does he deserve no credit?
Posted by: mikeyszymczak | October 09, 2008 at 09:26 AM