WineLovers Discussion Group

In today's NYTimes:
Asimov:2010 RedBurgs

Asimov joins the elitists and pseudo-intellectuals as he deftly navigates the minefield of RedBurgundy. He asserts that Burgundy "has achieved a far higher level of consistency among good producers than many other vaunted regions". Whatever.
Tom

Is it possible that Mr. Asimov is simply reporting what he perceives from his tastings? He does have a very good track record in a field (wine criticism) otherwise filled with nutjobs. I do agree that making broad generalizations like the one you cite is a slippery business. That said, I remain more interested in his views than most of his fellow critics.

They don't grow enough zin in Burgundy to suit Tom.

Steve Kirsch wrote:Is it possible that Mr. Asimov is simply reporting what he perceives from his tastings? He does have a very good track record in a field (wine criticism) otherwise filled with nutjobs. I do agree that making broad generalizations like the one you cite is a slippery business. That said, I remain more interested in his views than most of his fellow critics.

Steve....I would guess that Asimov is simply reporting his observations based on many more tastings other than just this one tasting. As w/ all generalizations, YMMV.
I don't taste enough RedBurgs to either confirm or deny that observation. It costs too many $$'s to kiss a lot of frogs to find the few princes...so I've pretty much
abandoned the RedBurg market.
As for "nutjobs"....sorta agree.
Tom

Allen Meadows is a nutjob? (that's what you're implying)

David M. Bueker wrote:Allen Meadows is a nutjob? (that's what you're implying)

Nope...I would certainly not refer to AllenMeadows as a "nutjob" and I sincerely doubt that Steve would either.
And I don't think "nutjob" is the best term to characterize some of the wine critics out there whose wine reviewing
skills are marginal.....which I must add does not include Monktown attourneys.
As for planting Zin in Burgundy....one can always dream, David.
Tom

tell me they aren't actually tasting out of the glasses in the photo - please.

TomHill wrote:In today's NYTimes:
He asserts that Burgundy "has achieved a far higher level of consistency among good producers than many other vaunted regions". Whatever.
Tom

Well, almost 30 years of wine buying/drinking from all over the word make me think that this is true.
My rate of bad/uninteresting wines from burgundy is largely lower than from any other region( something like 1 out of 2). Northern Rhone and California being the worst (closer to 4 out of 5)... Well post '88 bordeaux is out of competition of course.

My .2 euro

Thanks, Tom, for posting these links to Asimov's articles. On the basis of these, I reckon that he is one of the most thoughtful English language wine writers out there today. Others who spring to mind are Andrew Jefford, Matt Kramer and Chris Kissack.