Author: Eric Asimov
In the late nineties, before the widespread popularity of the internet and social rating sites like Yelp, we had to rely on the food critic in the local newspaper to help us discover interesting new restaurants. Eric Asimov's $25 and under column in the New York Times fit the bill and was perfect for our just-graduated-from-college budget. So when I was browsing the new books at my local library, I instinctively picked up this book and started thumbing through the pages.
I stumbled on the pages where he makes fun of the flowery language that serious wine critics use in their "tasting notes". To make his point he compares the tasting notes of three reputable wine critics for the same wine bottle. Not surprisingly they all detect "hints" of different fruits in their notes and it is hard to reconcile how they can all be right. Eric also holds firm with his opinion that the enjoyment of wine has little to do with the ability to detect these nuances. This is precisely how I feel and so felt that it is worth exploring what the New York Times Chief Wine Critic had to say about this.
The book is written well and Eric's experience in editing shows in the well crafted prose that is to the point and crisp. Unfortunately, apart from the critique of the value of the "tasting notes", Eric does not have much to offer in terms of content. He tries hard to be balanced in his views and goes out of his way to be nonjudgmental about an individual's taste in wine. However, it comes across as trite and after a while the analogies to fast food restaurants and the like are more likely to elicit a yawn than offer any value. The best part of the book is that it can be read in a couple of hours. Avoid, unless you have an afternoon to kill.
In the late nineties, before the widespread popularity of the internet and social rating sites like Yelp, we had to rely on the food critic in the local newspaper to help us discover interesting new restaurants. Eric Asimov's $25 and under column in the New York Times fit the bill and was perfect for our just-graduated-from-college budget. So when I was browsing the new books at my local library, I instinctively picked up this book and started thumbing through the pages.
I stumbled on the pages where he makes fun of the flowery language that serious wine critics use in their "tasting notes". To make his point he compares the tasting notes of three reputable wine critics for the same wine bottle. Not surprisingly they all detect "hints" of different fruits in their notes and it is hard to reconcile how they can all be right. Eric also holds firm with his opinion that the enjoyment of wine has little to do with the ability to detect these nuances. This is precisely how I feel and so felt that it is worth exploring what the New York Times Chief Wine Critic had to say about this.
The book is written well and Eric's experience in editing shows in the well crafted prose that is to the point and crisp. Unfortunately, apart from the critique of the value of the "tasting notes", Eric does not have much to offer in terms of content. He tries hard to be balanced in his views and goes out of his way to be nonjudgmental about an individual's taste in wine. However, it comes across as trite and after a while the analogies to fast food restaurants and the like are more likely to elicit a yawn than offer any value. The best part of the book is that it can be read in a couple of hours. Avoid, unless you have an afternoon to kill.
No comments:
Post a Comment