About tasting notes and responding to them

At first I wasn't going to respond to this thread, but I changed my mind.

Keep up the good work.

As an afterthought to my post above, as I am writing my notes on an 8x11, I sometimes question myself as to my impressions as the wine opens up. Right now, I have a Balbo Crios malbec in front of me and I am a tad concerned about the acidity level. Something I always struggle with so when I post my notes, I have to try to be succinct. Know what I mean?

I guess asking questions about the wine one is tasting will result in some response so thats good eh.

I don't post many tasting notes primarily because I don't feel that my tasting skills are developed well enough to contribute meaningfully in advancing the knowledge of the tribe. I would hate to mislead anyone. When I do post TN's I don't expect replies, but I do welcome agreement, as well as criticism, from others who have sampled the same wine. If I tasted "black cherry with damp forest floor" and you tasted "toffee with sea salt" please tell me. My feelings won't be hurt in the least. In that way I can improve my tasting skills.

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c392132567540113259bc3e6001d

Joe,

Just curious. Why is you sig a Sprite commercial?

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c392132567540113259bc3e6001d

Joe,

Just curious. Why is you sig a Sprite commercial?

Ah, they changed the link. It used to go to a compilation of all the Robot Chicken Star Wars skits like these:

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episode ... 0f8750001c

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episode ... 1974f4003a

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episode ... 0e30c90017

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episode ... 9e01d5006e

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episode ... 076a5c0002

Best,
Joe

This is a really important topic to me, as TNs are the most useful way to convey the relevant information that helps others decide whether to seek and buy, or when to drink, a wine.

This topic tends to appear occasionally on wine boards when there appears to be a subcritical mass of participation - and hence response to TN posts. The reason is that fewer people have or know about particular esoteric or small production wines, unless they are already established with marquee or cult status. The wider the participation, the more likely that some readers will know a wine.

I used to post TNs practically every week. As my business travel has increased over the years, I have less free time at home to compose notes. Therefore, I tend to be motivated to post TNs only when I think the TN is likely to be meaningful to a critical mass of readers.

The motivating factors include:

1. Is this a wine that I have cellared for some time, and the wine is now entering into its drinking window?

2. Was I surprised by the QPR of the wine?

3. Is the wine surprisingly good yet atypical or its region?

4. Is this a wine that commands a lot of attention, but I find it flawed or not ready to drink?

5. When I barrel taste, I like to give advance notice to the community of my expectations for the vintage(s).

6. If the wines were served at a well-publicized event (professional tasting, futures tasting, offline), I am more inclined to post the highlights.

Finally, and this gets to one of Jim's points about archiving... It would be much more user friendly and way better technologically if there were a TN template form, with fields, that would allow us to incorporate standardized TNs into a post. For example, if a TN button were included with the other buttons, we could add a TN via template at any point in our post. The template should include a general notes field for our prose.

Not only would the TNs then be available for archiving, they could also be made available to certain standard Java applications. For example, when a post is categorized as containing embedded TNs, there could be a function that enables the viewer to Right-Click on the subject line to reveal a list of the wines inlcuded in the post.

I don't post many tasting notes primarily because I don't feel that my tasting skills are developed well enough to contribute meaningfully in advancing the knowledge of the tribe. I would hate to mislead anyone. When I do post TN's I don't expect replies, but I do welcome agreement, as well as criticism, from others who have sampled the same wine. If I tasted "black cherry with damp forest floor" and you tasted "toffee with sea salt" please tell me. My feelings won't be hurt in the least. In that way I can improve my tasting skills.

I feel the same way, but I'm a real bottom feeder, and no one else is likely to post anything on most of the wines I try. I need to start posting a few myself.

I'm a real bottom feeder, and no one else is likely to post anything on most of the wines I try. I need to start posting a few myself.

Isaac - I am as delighted to find a decent $12 wine as the next guy. I just finished a lovely $10 Nero d'Avola and couldn't hav been more tickled.

If you taste less expensive wines, do please post notes on them.

In fact, the majority of the wines I drink are under $10, and most taste like it. Fairly often, though, there are pleasurable exceptions, and I'll try to be better about posting those.