Well, this is what tasting is all about. You can surely follow the parameters of the sommelier assiciations or Wset if you want that, but we are humans tasting and wine is not really an objective science no matter how much rigid standardized schemes try to say so. Of course, when judging wines in competitions we strive to be as objective as possible, and exclude bias blind tasting the wines.
I would say that doing as you call it creative or mindful tastings means you have grown, started to use yiur critical thinking and not just follow the very standardized patterns. 😉
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Katarina. Indeed, wine is a highly subjective field, and there's only so much we can standardise people's perceptions of it.
I love this. I spent 3 years doing the WSET way of tasting and how effing boring. Super glad I nixed doing Diploma since I am focused on one country now. It works for blind tasting and taking their exams. However, outside of wine course nerds it sucks to read. I much prefer the mindfulness approach. Let your stream of consciousness go- there is no wrong answer since we all perceive aromas differently. I love your girls trip it sounds like my kind of trip.
Thanks Kate, you are welcome on one of my girl trips any time! (I've also debated whether to do the WSET diploma, but I'm quite enjoying doing my own thing for now. Curious if it will ever feel necessary!)
Out of curiosity, have you ever seen the Apple TV series DROPS OF GOD, where the characters are visually tranported to different places, times, events, etc. whenever they sip a different wine? It's over the top and somewhat silly, but in the best ways. And this reminded me of that. It's based on a Japanese manga, which in turn was created by two siblings with no wine industry background, but they would play this game with each other of "describing" what a wine tasted like in terms of a visual/memory, and were often surprised that they would come up with the same free association image! And so naturally wrote a 44-volume manga out of it. :P
Very much enjoyed this! I've also noticed that oftentimes the same friends who worry about whether they "know enough" to talk about wine have some of the most unique and often insightful notes (like identifying aromas that aren't on the Lexicon 😱). I think your creative approach is a great idea for a class, sounds like a lot of fun! Cheers!
Well, this is what tasting is all about. You can surely follow the parameters of the sommelier assiciations or Wset if you want that, but we are humans tasting and wine is not really an objective science no matter how much rigid standardized schemes try to say so. Of course, when judging wines in competitions we strive to be as objective as possible, and exclude bias blind tasting the wines.
I would say that doing as you call it creative or mindful tastings means you have grown, started to use yiur critical thinking and not just follow the very standardized patterns. 😉
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Katarina. Indeed, wine is a highly subjective field, and there's only so much we can standardise people's perceptions of it.
I love this. I spent 3 years doing the WSET way of tasting and how effing boring. Super glad I nixed doing Diploma since I am focused on one country now. It works for blind tasting and taking their exams. However, outside of wine course nerds it sucks to read. I much prefer the mindfulness approach. Let your stream of consciousness go- there is no wrong answer since we all perceive aromas differently. I love your girls trip it sounds like my kind of trip.
Thanks Kate, you are welcome on one of my girl trips any time! (I've also debated whether to do the WSET diploma, but I'm quite enjoying doing my own thing for now. Curious if it will ever feel necessary!)
Out of curiosity, have you ever seen the Apple TV series DROPS OF GOD, where the characters are visually tranported to different places, times, events, etc. whenever they sip a different wine? It's over the top and somewhat silly, but in the best ways. And this reminded me of that. It's based on a Japanese manga, which in turn was created by two siblings with no wine industry background, but they would play this game with each other of "describing" what a wine tasted like in terms of a visual/memory, and were often surprised that they would come up with the same free association image! And so naturally wrote a 44-volume manga out of it. :P
Yes, I loved that series! And I actually wouldn't have guessed the people who came up with it had no wine knowledge!
Very much enjoyed this! I've also noticed that oftentimes the same friends who worry about whether they "know enough" to talk about wine have some of the most unique and often insightful notes (like identifying aromas that aren't on the Lexicon 😱). I think your creative approach is a great idea for a class, sounds like a lot of fun! Cheers!
Thanks guys! And I fully agree - many of the best tasting insights have come from "untrained" palates...