If anyone tells you that they've NEVER had a bottle of wine they didn't enjoy, one of the following is true:
A) They have only tasted a VERY small number of bottles (less than 10)
B) They are 100% FULL OF CRAP!!!
Is there anyone out there who can honestly say that they've NEVER have a bad bottle of wine?
(This message brought to you by The Wine Whore)
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25 comments:
I almost made that comment on your blog post in response to... but I thought discretion to be the better part of value.
I mean let's be honest here... how many blogs or websites have you read where EVERY review is positive?
I mean seriously!? What's the deal?
No, I have had plenty of wines I have disliked over the years. And I don't know anyone who has never had a bad wine. With thousands of different wines out there, you can't like them all.
EXACTLY! I think a lot of bloggers and wine reviewers struggle with this issue. Especially when samples are involved!
Okay, so here's the question that should help them:
What's the right way to do a negative review?
Hi Wine Whore
I think for many bloggers, and on my behalf, I drink quite a lot of wine and most wines that I don't enjoy I wont give air time or spend time thinking or writing about them.
Rather than... only ever tasting great wines. It is a difficult subject though.
A negative review should contain what the wine tastes and smells like with a polite mention that it might not appeal to everyone. The reviewer might want to shift some of the blame to the growing season as well, if that was a known factor.
There's this really terrible wine made in Kansas called Buffalo Red...just thought I'd throw that out there.
Honestly, I have tasted more of wht I could call bad wines than good. I guess I just have a particular pallette.
Probably have had more bad ones than good. @fgj1013
I have had a many bad bottles...but some of them I wonder, is it the wines fault, or mine? Is it past its prime? Is the bottle its self just bad and air got in? Because some had hints of greatness, only to be lost to some external cause.
Italian Wine Blog and C'est Beth have some great ideas to buffer the badness.
For my newbie blog, I just to put a positive spin on the wines I taste. Not because the wineries are giving them to me, because that is just my personality, to always find some positive. Even if its just a pretty label.
Just had a wicked bad French lady the other night. It's okay to have opinions, unfortunately I see a massive good ol boys club (strange for a medium that is only a few years old) that seems to like to kiss ass. One blog I read dedicated a whole post to reviewing other wine bloggers. I looked a little futher and at least 1/3 of them were sponsors or where he had major presence on their sites too. I call B.S.
While your brand may be a little too crude for some, at least you're honest.
Ok, so here's a good question:
How do you know if the bottle is corked or just plain 'ol sucks?
I've had a lot of so-so wine - not technically bad but not at all thrilling or interesting. Personally, I don't let them waste my time more by writing about them!
... and that's a great point! Here's the other side though: shouldn't people hear about the good AND the bad?
Many reviews opt not to review wines that they find flawed or sub-par. I am not one of them (I do post negative reviews though less frequently than positive ones), but I wouldn't lump a blog that contains only positive reviews into the B.S. category solely on that criterion (maybe other criteria, but not just that :-).
Cheers!
That's a good point, dude! :)
Re-reading what I wrote, I realized that what I was saying could be confused. Just because a blog doesn't review a bad wine doesn't make 'em B.S. but if someone tells you that they've never had a bad wine to review... well then I have to call it! :)
Dude, what's the worst wine you ever reviewed?
I tend to stop reading blogs if I never see a bad review. If the writer is afraid to post the bad then I can't trust the good. For reviews about a wine in a blog or other format that's intending to help other people then I think it's also important to relay the WHY of the badness. Don't just say "this wine sucks," but give reasoning behind it. This is particularly important if you haven't had enough wines to know if a bottle is corked or just plain bad. Things like "this wine sucks because it reminded me of a damp basement" will give the reader a much better idea of why it's bad. I think this is just as important when giving a positive review too. "Tastes like raspberries and quince jam" doesn't really help me much. "Simple and fruity, making it perfect for casual sipping with friends" does the trick a little more for me!
I would have to agree, especially when it comes to saying exactly what it is that I DON'T like about the wine. It's easy to get caught up in naming all of the fruits, vegetables, and whatnot... but what does this really do for anyone?!
I have thought about the idea of adding a review of a wine I didn't enjoy. I felt as I was writing it that bagging a wine based on my experience is as bad as one of the "gurus" hyping up a wine with a 100 rating with their own subjective view. So I decided not to...
I've had plenty of bad wines. Could be because:
1) I've had PLENTY of wines (way more than 10);)
2) I go to a fair amount of tastings where multiple wines are compared to each other, making some less stellar than others
I've also been to tons of tastings where the wines I enjoyed were completely opposite of the wines some of my peers enjoyed. So subjective.
Chris, did you mean, that you thought about giving a negative review of a wine that you didn't like but chose not to? I don't think it's the same as long as you are honest about exactly what it is that you didn't like... after all, it's YOUR opinion! :)
I think you hit the nail on the head foodandwinechickie! It's SUBJECTIVE! It's okay if you don't like a bottle of wine. In fact, I am always surprised to hear which bottles people like and which ones they don't. It also varies greatly on experience, tastes, and even time of the day! That's what makes wine so cool... it's about what YOU like! :)
There are no right or wrong answers as everyones tastes are different. However, I think we have an obligation, especially if we receive free samples, to post our comments. If you are honest and explain why you don't like it then nobody can tell you that you are wrong. How many times have you tried two bottles of the same wine and there was a big difference? Give the bad with the good. You'll receive more if you are honest than just ignoring them.
I fall in the category of people who don't review bad wines. I do it for selfish reasons though: i don't want to relive the trauma of drinking the bad wine :).
I have to admit, I'm a fan of your blog, allan.
It's not just because you review wine but because you throw a lot of interesting posts out there that brush on topics I am interested in.
Here's the difference... Even if you don't post negative reviews, at least you'll admit that you've had a BAD bottle of wine.
One of the reasons I follow very few blogs that do wine reviews as their bread and butter is that I get frustrated by the ever positive spin. Many wines are crap, many others are fine but nothing to write home about, and a few are really good. If you won't tell me that, at least in your opinion, I don't care. After all, does it matter if there were hits of white pepper and papaya if you didn't like it? Of course, I blog at "Swirl, Sip, Snark," so take that for what it's worth.... Given that we blog anonymously, however, we're not getting anything though our blog, so it's not like the samples or perks will dry up when we pan a winery or wine (which we have).
LOL! You know what's funny? I've actually had wineries send me samples BECAUSE I've given an HONEST review about a wine!
Did you hear that folks?! You may actually be REWARDED for telling the truth!
If you always rave about crappy wine, guess what... you're gonna keep getting crappy wine!
HA! How does THAT feel?! :)
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