Talking About Wine

I've written a few posts in which I have made fun of the vernacular that seems to appear within wine writing, blogging, and general discussion. But I have also contemplated how quickly I have adopted and begun to use the words and descriptions that make up this lingo. The first time I read on a wine label that the wine had notes of pencil lead I started laughing. Now I look for it and happily call it out in my notes and reviews. Why is this?

I think that there is truth to the idea that we are pretty obsessed with quantifying, explaining, and justifying almost everything in our society. We want to relay a wine experience to others in a way that will either entice or dissuade them from the same. This is why we give wine points, and also why we have created a finite vocabulary to describe an utterly sensory experience (grapefruit, cassis, forest floor, backbone, teeth-gripping, you know the list).

I do not think this is a bad thing, but I do think that I would love to get to a point where I move beyond the adopted descriptors of prior people's expression. Having only been a part of the wine blogosphere for a few months I realize how frequently a list of aromas for one wine sounds just like the notes on another. This is not to say that I do not like reading tasting notes, reviews, and such. I actually really enjoy it. And I intend to continue to read and write them. But I am interested in exploring new ways to talk about wine.

I'm not sure what that will look like, or sound like. I am sure it will not be a profound revolution emanating from these pages, but it is something I will look towards as I continue with this project. Finally I do think that this potential metamorphosis will come from blogs, and not from the traditional print media, and I selfishly hope that it is a change lead by the younger generation of wine drinkers. We are already more open to variety, less influenced by accolades and price, and more likely to get our information from less traditional sources. Hopefully we use that liberal approach to fermented grape juice to open up the ways in which we engage over wine. Is there anyone out there that you know of who is writing or discussing wine in a truly different way?