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In a recent wine competition in New York, 2,500 wines were entered from around the globe.
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Counting the empties
By Rod Byers
» More from Rod Byers
12:01 a.m. PT May 7, 2008
Recently, I was invited to be a judge at a major wine competition in New York. There were 2500 wines entered from across the country and around the globe, with a heady list of judges invited to parcel out the awards.
I was curious when I received instructions a month before the event telling me to "measure the pleasure."
They were encouraging me to judge the wines on a hedonic scale. Basically, that means, judge it on the basis of whether I like it or not.
As a wine judge, I have always been taught to regard each wine individually, on the merits of how it measures up to its varietal nature. So it was refreshing to hear them say, "If the wine gives you pleasure, chances are, it will give others pleasure."
Is it as simple as that? Is the first empty wine bottle the best wine on the table?
I have been curious about the intersection of a wine's varietal purity and it's style. To put it another way, a zinfandel could exemplify loads of varietal character, aromas of black pepper, spice and ripe berries, but it could be light-bodied and refined, medium-bodied, or very robust and tannic.
All would offer zin-like character but in very different styles. Is one more zinny than the others?
Conversely, if you are partial to a particular style of wine, then when a wine hits your style profile whether its merlot, zinfandel or cabernet, it becomes the kind of wine you like whether it is true to its varietal nature or not. I have always thought it is the wine judge's job to identify varietal purity through a range of styles.
As a judge, even if I prefer buttery, well-oaked chardonnays, I simply cannot dismiss a tart, lean, unoaked style if it is varietally true and well-made.
As a consumer, I can.
Practice makes perfect
At the California State Fair we have always been instructed to "find the best wines."
But here, we were being instructed to "find the wines we liked best."
So perhaps we shouldn't be told what wines we're tasting, because that automatically colors our vision.
Recently, I attended an informal blind tasting where I didn't know what wines were being poured. I gave high marks to one thinking it was a riesling. Later I found out it was chardonnay. Had I known that, even though I liked the wine, I would never have scored it so high, because it wasn't a good example of the variety.
Is it overly simplistic then just to measure by pleasure?
First and foremost, there is no substitute for practice. It helps if you can taste a lot of wines. But you still need a format. I divide wine tasting into three general categories, aroma, mid-palate mouthfeel and the finish. Remember, in a competition, you always know the category of wines you are judging so the first decision is, does it smell like it is supposed to, at least approximately. Generally I like to smell all the wines first, pulling the ones I deem appropriate forward, leaving neutral ones alone and pushing the ones I think miss the mark backward, creating a squiggly line of glasses across the table. Just because a wine is forward or back doesn't mean that is where it will end up, but it is the first and an important screening line.
Next is what I call the mid-palate mouthfeel. That is where I judge the fruit quality of a wine. Aromas are often intensified as flavors in the mouth, actual taste receptors, sweetness, tartness and bitterness kick in, and the wine lets you know if it delivers more or less than what it promised aromatically.
Finally there is the finish. After the wine is out of your mouth, what impression does it leave? You don't need to swallow the wine to "get" the wine and actually I think spitting allows you to be a better judge of wine than if you swallow.
The key element is balance. If you happen to love bony elbows that's great, but for most people bony elbows are just sharp points. So it is with wine. Wines with a dramatic start but a disappointing end, a rich middle with no beginning or finish or a hollow middle are all reasons to mark a wine down. The wines may range from tolerable to reasonable to even good, but they are not gold. For that you need the whole package.
That, of course, would be quite a bit tidier if we could all agree on specific varietal characteristics which we don't necessarily do. What if you've never heard of the wine before? In California we're familiar with the basic wines we see here. It's quite different back east. There, because of weather and climate, they have a range of hybrids and native varietals, wines we simply never encounter here. How should you judge Cayuga, Chardonel or Clinton? Should they be aromatic or shy, sweet, or dry? How could you know if something you've never seen is true to form?
This then brings us full circle back to judging wine on a hedonic scale. Does the wine give pleasure? And even more important, is it balanced and true to whatever style it's representing? I have no idea what St. Pepin is supposed to taste like. It's one of Minnesota's best white varieties showing promise as a cold climate grape but trying to compare it to a Russian River Chardonnay is a fool's errand. If the wine offers any fruit, delivers balance from start to finish while demonstrating good winemaking skills without jabbing a bony elbow in your eye, then maybe it's a winner.
There is no question that building a level of familiarity with a wide range of different varietals takes time and practice. But you don't need that to be a good wine taster. Throughout the competition, we had a series of guest judges who would join our table for a round or two. Some considered themselves knowledgeable, others novices. It was remarkable how often they would agree with our panel's assessment of a wine. The biggest difference was, most of the time they couldn't say why. If art, music or a play gives pleasure, does it matter whether you know if it's true to its genre or not? Maybe the first bottle emptied is the best bottle on the table.
Rod Byers is Director of Marketing at Nevada City Winery, is a CSW certified wine educator, teaches wine classes at Sierra College and is a California State Certified Wine Judge. He can be reached by e-mail at wineonpine@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 530-913-3703.
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