Who first said “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard”? Not even The Google knows the history of this historic baseball-stadium vendor’s shout. But who actually uses a scorecard?
Order Mother’s Day Gifts Now for On-Time Delivery + Special Offer
Because you love her … Treat Mom to handcrafted wines delivered right to her door with a fun and unique gift from The California Wine Club.
Special offer: Send three delicious months of wine with the Club’s Premier Series and they will pay for the shipping. Just $115. Save $42. Simply use coupon code SHIPFREE.
Order Now for On-Time Delivery
Come to think of it, we could ask the same question about wine. Most wine lovers talk about wine scores, and altogether too many wine buyers worry about the score – the points that the famous wine critics assign a wine. Only 82? Ick! Gimme a 90-plus … if I can afford to pay for it.
But just as the essayist Charles Dudley Warner said before Mark Twain more famously repeated it, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it,” so do a lot more people talk about sports scores – and wine scores – than actually write them down.
The baseball geek is the lonely guy sitting by himself at the end of a row, score book in his lap, dutifully marking down every move on the field. (Why does “K” stand for “strikeout,” anyway?) How can he watch the game?
Sometimes I wonder something similar about the wine geek (yes, including me) who carefully jots down wine notes and assigns a score to each glass: Do we have our minds too far into the data to relax and enjoy the wine?
Well, all right, I admit it. I’m stirring the pot here, at least a little. I do take wine notes myself, and only partly because that makes it possible for me to share my tasting experiences with you.
Frankly, I often recommend taking notes as a good way to kick up your tasting skills. Pausing to stop and think about how the wine looks, smells, tastes, and to ponder the reflections it leaves behind can help us focus on the wine more clearly and appreciate it more. If you’re interested enough in wine to make this commitment, I think it helps the learning process.
(The Wine Advisor continues below this message from our friends at The California Wine Club.)
Today’s Sponsor:
Order Mother’s Day Gifts Now for On-Time Delivery + Special Offer
Because you love her … Treat Mom to handcrafted wines delivered right to her door with a fun and unique gift from The California Wine Club.
Special offer: Send three delicious months of wine with the Club’s Premier Series and they will pay for the shipping.
Just $115. Save $42.
Simply use coupon code SHIPFREE.
Order Now for On-Time Delivery
The cost of shipping for a 3-month gift in most U.S. states is $42. Shipping on us offer cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount nor applied to previously placed orders. Some restrictions and exclusions may apply. Offer expires Dec. 31, 2016.
1-800-777-4443 www.cawineclub.com
Wine scores: What’s the point?
(Continued)
But keeping score? Sometimes I wonder about this. The critics say they do it to help us choose, and the 100-point system has certainly become the industry standard.
But does anybody really use 100 points? Parker’s scale actually starts at 50, and he rarely rates a wine under 80, so it is really a 100 point system, or 50, or only 20? The old University of California Davis scale, which I learned back in the day, the similar American Wine Society scale, and most European wine judging systems use only 20 points; but a wine actually gets a handful of points simply for showing up, being wet, and having a color, so even these don’t really use all 20.
On the other hand, people who simplify to four or five points (“Poor, fair, good, really good, outstanding”) often expand their scale to 10 by adding half-points for wines that fall in the margins. Sometimes I suspect that all point systems actually boil down to maybe 8 to 15 points at most.
Does it make sense to invest in wine based on a critic’s number alone? Does anyone actually buy by the numbers only, without considering what’s in the bottle? How about you? Do you take notes on your own wines? Do any of you – particularly if you don’t post your notes in online forums or at wine clubs – even keep score?
I’d love to hear what you think about wine scoring, and in particular, whether you do it yourself (and if so, what scale you use). You’re warmly welcome to join this conversations in our online forums. Click Scoring wines: what’s the ideal method? to get in this conversation in our WineLovers Discussion Group (WLDG); or go to Facebook and click What’s the ideal method of scoring wines? Do you actually use it? on our WineLoversPage Facebook page.
Today’s Tasting Report
Domaine des Rochelles 2013 “l’Ardoise” Anjou Rouge ($10.99)
This Loire Valley blend of 90% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon shows a clear, dark purple color with a thin garnet edge. Simple but attractive aromas and flavors, tart red plums and a whiff of cranberry on the nose and palate. Bright and acidic on first taste, with 13% alcohol, its palate-cleansing zing is soon joined by soft, fuzzy tannins that give a sense of body and structure. Crisp red fruit lingers in a long finish. U.S. importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, D.C. (April 21, 2016)
FOOD MATCH: The winery suggests roasted or grilled meat, charcuterie, or cheese, and all of those should work. We went the cheese route with a lighter take on Alfredo: fettuccine with Parmigiano besciamella and a little saffron.
WHEN TO DRINK: It’s fine now, but good fruit, balance and tannins suggest that it should keep well and perhaps gain a bit of aged-red complexity over two to five years under climate-controlled storage.
VALUE: This good red is fairly priced in the lower teens.
WEB LINK
Here’s an excellent fact sheet on Domaine Des RochellesAnjou Rouge L’Ardoise on importer Robert Kacher’s website.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Wine-Searcher.com shows only a few U.S. vendors for Domaine Des Rochelles Anjou Rouge L’Ardoise.
Robert Kacher’s wines are widely distributed, however. You may be able to locate vendors in your area through this contact form on Kacher’s website.
Wine Focus: Tempranillo
We’re talking about Tempranillo in this month’s Wine Focus on our WineLovers Discussion Group (WLDG) and our WineLoversPage Facebook page.
You can read the discussion on the forum without registering, but if you’d like to participate in our conversations, you can quickly and easily join the forum via Facebook, using the “Social Login” button at the upper right corner of any forum page to register automatically and log in.
I look forward to seeing you in our wine social media. Welcome!
Social Media
If you use Facebook, we’d be delighted to have you “Like” our WineLovers Facebook Page. This way you can get Facebook notifications when there’s a new The 30 Second Wine Advisor issue or a topic of particular interest on the WineLovers Discussion Group (WLDG).
If you’re a Facebook user, you can join our forum with a single click! All you need to do is visit the forum and click the “Social Login” link at upper right.
Finally, I welcome social media connections, but if I won’t recognize your name, I suggest that you contact me via Email to wine@wineloverspage.com to let me know that you’ve requested a connection.
Connect with Robin Garr on LinkedIn
Talk About Wine Online
If you have questions, comments or ideas to share about today’s article or wine in general, you’re always welcome to drop by our online WineLovers Discussion Group, the Internet’s first and still the most civil online community. To find our forums, click:
Discussions are open for public viewing, but you must register to post. If you’re a Facebook user, you can also now join our forum with a single click! All you need to do is visit the forum and click the “Social Login” link at upper right.
We use only your name and Email to identify you and make no other claim on your Facebook information or privacy. However, if you prefer not to use Facebook, contact me at wine@wineloverspage.com for information about registration.
Subscriptions and Administrivia
Unsubscribe:
We’re sorry if you must leave us, but simply click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of your Email edition to be instantly removed from the mailing list.
Change address:
The quickest and easiest way to change your Email address is simply to register anew, using the link below. If you are keeping your old address but no longer wish to get the Wine Advisor there, click the unsubscribe link below to take it off our list; if you are closing the mailbox, you needn’t take any action, as our system will delete your old address as soon as the mail to your old address starts to “bounce.”
Subscribe to this weekly E-letter (free)
Sponsorship Opportunities:
For information, E-mail wine@wineloverspage.com
