Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension

Dry notes make snobs too boring to mock—almost
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2008 11:46 AM CDT
Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension
This photo contains a rich vanilla aroma, faint notes of raspberry and a cleansing toothpaste finish.   (Shutterstock)

When wine lovers say they taste notes of cherries or hints of tobacco, “usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass,” Joel Stein writes in the LA Times . Wine dialogue has devolved into a meaningless string of obscure scents, Stein says. It’s boring—too boring even to make fun of—and it says virtually nothing about the wine.

Why not talk about what the wine is actually like? Reviewers should be explaining whether a wine is loud and rough, smooth and friendly, or boozy and deep. “The reason there's a problem is that there's a lot of people who suck at communicating,” says one wine reviewer. “It’s a lack of self-esteem and pretension. Nobody has guts.” (More wine stories.)

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