Alder over at Vinography has an excellent point in his rant about wine reps who tell you what you’re tasting in the glass. “This and that and the other” may be what the rep tastes (or, possibly, what the marketing people put on the data sheet), but I might find something different.
I join in Alder’s call to winemakers, tasting room staff and others: stop telling us what we taste. Pour us the wine sample and give us a very general description: “crisp and refreshing” or “big and bold.” Then smile and ask us what we detect in the wine’s aromas and flavors. People who can answer the question will. Folks who can’t will hopefully at least try to answer–and, of course, their answers are never wrong since it’s what they are sensing. If a customer says “I just can’t put my finger on it,” then you can drop a hint: “Some folks say they sense blackberry. Is that what you’re sensing?”
Hopefully people in the wine trade can modify their spiels and let the consumers approach the wine without any pre-conceived notions of what is in the glass.
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