[ Editor's note: this article is not an easy one to follow, because the topic is not an easy one to get your head around; intrepid readers will want to stick with it, though, because I think the conclusions are fodder for some amazing discussion on their implications on wine criticism. ]

The world of wine critique is fraught with logical contradictions.

Case in point: take this excerpt from a recent interview with critic James Suckling on Liv-Ex.com on the topic of evaluating wines while they are still in the barrel, as is often done during En Primeur in Bordeaux (emphasis mine):

“The key thing to remember is that the nose isn’t important at all. I learnt that from Daniel Lawton, one of the great negociants of Bordeaux. The important thing is the texture – the quality of the tannins and how they relate to the acidity and alcohol – and then the finish. Wines with long seamless finishes are really the great wines. It’s not all about power. It takes a long time before you can taste En Primeur properly. There’s a hierarchy in Bordeaux that helps as you can kind of figure out what should taste good. But to really understand how wines evolve you need a good 10 years of tasting.”

The logic issue here is that we know scientifically that the vast majority of our sensory experience in tasting wine comes aromatically and retro-nasally. So one (but not the only!) interpretation of the above quote is that En Primeur ratings are meaningless, or at least limited in value to consumers, because the aromas – and therefore the majority of the wine’s sensory experience – cannot be fully evaluated. The contradiction being that the wine world largely treats those ratings as not having any such limited usage.

Issues like that one crop up all over the place in the wine world, if you’re willing to look hard enough. And so it should be of little surprise to many of you when I tell you that the act of rating wines falls squarely into what is commonly called “bad science” in the scientific world…

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Mary Frances Kennedy (M.F.K.) Fisher shuffled off the mortal coil twenty years ago this Summer.

Twenty years on after her departure, her status has not change a single jot: Fisher’s still the greatest food writer who has ever lived.

Don’t believe me? Try out the latest collection of some of her work, Musings On Wine And Other Libations (about $18; I received a review copy), which focuses almost exclusively on Fisher’s wine prose and is edited by Anne Zimmerman (who last year wrote the book on Fisher – literally).

What you will find is a writer who had an ability to ingrain context into wine tales that was so uncannily pure that I suspect it was enmeshed within her DNA, along with an editor who puts context on top of all that context. Musings On Wine And Other Libations ends up providing a surfeit of context that should get most wine geeks swooning.

And when you read Fisher’s insightful musing about vino, know this: as god as it is, it probably isn’t even her best writing…

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So, like what is this stuff, anyway?
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine sample tasting notes with you via twitter (limited to 140 characters). They are meant to be quirky, fun, and easily-digestible. Below is a wrap-up of the twitter reviews from the past week (click here for the skinny on how to read them), along with links to help you find them so you can try them for yourself. Cheers!

• 10 The Winery At Holy Cross Abbey Cabernet Franc (CO): Bigger than the CO mountain skyline & w/ that anise, damn nearly as pretty. $23 B+ >>find this wine>>
• 11 Infinite Monkey Theorem Riesling (Colorado): finite amounts of flowers, citrus & stony fruits, but all of them are pretty damn good $16 B >>find this wine>>
• 09 Septembre Cellars Chardonnay (Grand Valley): Attention to detail pays off; this case in loveliness, balance & appetite-generation $25 B >>find this wine>>
• 09 Ruby Trust Cellars Gun Slinger (Grand Valley): Not shy about slinging ripe red & black Syrah fruit your way, & at high velocities. $25 B >>find this wine>>
• 09 Ruby Trust Cellars The Smuggler (Grand Valley): Drop-kick to the face of peppery red fruited goodness (hurts, but hurts good). $25 B >>find this wine>>
• 11 Guy Drew Vineyards Pinot Gris (Colorado): "Stunning achievement" come to mind; will be even more stunning if he can do it again. $16 A- >>find this wine>>
• 11 Grande River Vineyards Viognier (Grand Valley): Crisp as that mountain stream that Coors likes to brag about (& more minerally too) $16 B >>find this wine>>

Welcome to the Weekly Wine Quiz!

Based on feedback from ever-so-vocal-and-intelligent peeps like you, I do not supply the quiz answer directly in the post – you will need to tune back in later in the comments section for the answer. I’m still on the road this week in Australia, so once again I ask only for your patience on receiving the answer (which could be delayed a few days, depending on my access to The Global Interwebs while Down Undah).

State Of (Grape) Affairs

In the 1880s, which U.S. state was producing more than 2,000,000 gallons of wine per year?

•     A. Virginia
•     B. California
•     C. Missouri
•     D. Colorado
•     E. Texas

Cheers – and good luck!