Wine Tasting - Can you really taste that much?

Funny how my first posting is about wine and not food, yet while I have thought this many times, and discussed it with many I haven't really ever put my thoughts to paper - so to speak. So here goes.

Last night while sitting back and reading my latest copy of Gourmet Traveller Wine and Drinks (an Australian publication for those who don't know) I read a story by the much famed Jancis Robinson titled "Oh, the Horror!". There was just one piece that made me wonder, and that was, this being a formal occasion - a sit down dinner - the occasion probably didn't cater for the swirling and swishing of wine in the mouth and subtly (or not so) spitting into a spittoon. So, I thought to myself, here is a very knowledgable wine critic/reviewer drinking some of the best wines in the world, and I mean drinking not tasting, along with numerous plates of food (11 according to the article) along with god knows what else and so I wondered that there must be a point at which you start to lose the structure and taste of the wine. That is, you no longer have the ability on the 25th glass of wine that you had on, say the 1st.

Let my start by saying that Jancis along with others are some of the best in the business and hence their finely tuned palate can handle more wine than the average 'punter', yet even they must hit a wall when tasting/drinking wine.

So, I posed the questions to Jancis on her twitter account, and never expecting a response she said "a piece of cake", and referred to me to a tweet by another famed wine critic Neal Martin, in which he said "7 hrs tasting, 190 wines, 9500 words of tasting notes of Cru Bourgeois. Will write intro on the train home. Job done."

This got me thinking, he is trying to suggest that even a man of his skills managed to taste one wine every 2.21 minutes, for those of you: 7 (hrs) multiplied by 60 (min's) divided by 190 (wines). Now this doesn't take into account going to the toilet, writing notes, speaking to others, taking/making any calls and finally stopping for food.

So, does he seriously expect - I guess he does, us (people) to honestly believe that he can taste - meaningfully that is - 190 wines in 7hrs and provide to us (people) notes, thoughts, expectations and views that will help us in making our decisions when we next ponder over a wine list, or make a stop at the local wine store?

Personally, and get ready for a naughty word, this is just bullshit. Sorry Neal, and my apology and thoughts will mean little to you, yet this is simply bullshit. I read many times stories by (amongst many others) Nick Stock (an Australian wine critic) and James Halliday (possibly the most respected Australian wine critic) and Jeannie Cho Lee (a famous Asian MW) saying that they managed to get through 100, 110, 150+ wines in a day at a tasting showcase etc., and personally I think this is bullshit as well. All naughty words are now finished.

I am not for one second saying they did not taste these wines. What I am suggesting is that there is just an element of professional pride in claiming bigger and bigger numbers of tastings in a day.

Now it was possibly native of me to think Jancis would find it difficult to drink 20+ wines in an evening (lets assume 6hrs), with food etc., yet I think Neal's and others claims are ... as I have already said above.

Many people buy wine because they like it or want to taste it yet so often the catalyst for liking or tasting that wine was a recommendation. Now it could be one from the guy behind the counter, yet he more than likely got his initial tasting of it from one of the big critic's or a wine magazine. And so, if a critic has seriously tasted 1 wine ever 2.21 mins then it does raise a very serious question: Was the high rating and notes associated with this (or that) wine done at a time when so much wine had been tasted and so late in the day that he or she couldn't tell a red from a white anymore?

The responsibility that critics, like any critic, yet especially those in wine and to a lesser degree food have is that their recommendations come at a (often) high price. You can tell me to see a crap movie and it was $10 wasted, you can tell me this is the best wine every made and likely to be made and I could waste 000's of $'s.

Maybe the pressure to get through so much wine in a day needs to be revisited, yet all I can say in the end is, I sure hope that my wine is in the first 20 or 30 that are tasted that morning!