Love your reviews and commentary. In a recent post, you said that price alone doesn’t affect grades but you may note exceptional value (of course, any reader who cares about the grade that a $30 92 pointer is better value than a $70 with some score), but you mention here that you do consider the “class” of wine when recommending versus not, which I’m sure price pays a role. I wonder if you could walk out your philosophy more.
One question: what % of wines you’re sent do you recommend? Is it a rarity to not recommend or is it fairly common.
Ben, thank you for the kind words. I think it would be unfair to apply exactly the same standards to a $20 wine and an $80 wine from the same grape. When I speak about peer group comparisons I mean exactly that. In numerical terms, as you point out, a high-scoring $30 wine looks a lot more interesting than a similar score on a wine costing a lot more. That said both wines may get the same score but that does not mean that they taste alike. As for your other question, I don't keep track of those numbers. However, as I said, I do not taste the hundreds of cheap, mass-produced wines that line convenience store shelves. By focusing on small production, artisanal wines from small Pacific NW wineries I am going to taste a much higher percentage of quality wines. This allows me the luxury of spending a great deal of time on each individual tasting. For example, one recent exploration of a dozen wines from a single producer occupied me for four full days.
Thank you! Yessir, that is a Professional Grade tasting glass.
Paul,
Love your reviews and commentary. In a recent post, you said that price alone doesn’t affect grades but you may note exceptional value (of course, any reader who cares about the grade that a $30 92 pointer is better value than a $70 with some score), but you mention here that you do consider the “class” of wine when recommending versus not, which I’m sure price pays a role. I wonder if you could walk out your philosophy more.
One question: what % of wines you’re sent do you recommend? Is it a rarity to not recommend or is it fairly common.
Ben, thank you for the kind words. I think it would be unfair to apply exactly the same standards to a $20 wine and an $80 wine from the same grape. When I speak about peer group comparisons I mean exactly that. In numerical terms, as you point out, a high-scoring $30 wine looks a lot more interesting than a similar score on a wine costing a lot more. That said both wines may get the same score but that does not mean that they taste alike. As for your other question, I don't keep track of those numbers. However, as I said, I do not taste the hundreds of cheap, mass-produced wines that line convenience store shelves. By focusing on small production, artisanal wines from small Pacific NW wineries I am going to taste a much higher percentage of quality wines. This allows me the luxury of spending a great deal of time on each individual tasting. For example, one recent exploration of a dozen wines from a single producer occupied me for four full days.
appreciate your local focus and personal approach. it's good to have a known basis for your reviews. also like your tasting glass! ;->
Paul, Many thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough analysis and sharing your impressions of our Soos Creek wines!