There is something very interesting going on over at the new wine blog, Swirl & Sniff, that I mention in the post above. They employ a 16 point rating system in which the Value, Color & Clarity, Bouquet and Flavor of a wine can be scored between 1 -4 points each. For example, their review of the Seresin Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is scored thusly: Value: 3.5 Color & Clarity: 4.0 Bouquet: 3.5 Flavor: 3.5 The wine gets 14.5 points out of…

For a long time I’ve believed they are the best wine value in the world. I still believe that. Australia’s Non-vintage sweet Tokays and Muscat are extraordinary wines. These sweet golden wines made in the solera style. Magnificently intense, exotically spiced with nutty, raisiny, brown sugar, tangerine flavors and a nose that always keeps me from draining my glass so that I’ve something to return to. They are smooth and creamy yet able to wash down the rich dessert. Nearly…

Earlier this month I distributed the PINOT REPORT‘s "Top 12 wine picks for 2004." There was a good deal more than just the top picks listed in this year end report. So here are the rest, ranging in Value Pinots to Pinot Areas to Watch to Top Pinot Restaurants. To get the details on these picks you really need to subscribe to the Pinot Report. The list of "Pinot Vineyards You Can Trust" is a pretty interesting idea. You don’t…

Some have argued that the very existence of a precise rating system such as the 100 point scale for wine is folly, that it assumes too much about our ability to observe a wine so closely as to detect any and all of its qualities. This argument embodies an attitude that shows great deference to the notion of human infallibility. And I like that attitude. Other critics of the 100 point rating system for wine see it as a much…

Over at Mark Squires’ Forum on erobertparker.com they are, once again, discussing the notion of a "perfect wine." I love this kind of discussion: Can a wine be perfect? What makes a "perfect" wine? One thing that everyone agrees upon is that there is no objective measure of a wine’s quality, let alone the qualities that make it "perfect". That is of course what makes this debate/discussion even remotely possible. When Robert Parker or the Wine Spectator rate a wine…