If you didn’t even know Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a grenache-based wine (Gre-nach-ay, indeed. Whatever the hell that’s supposed to be), what exactly qualifies you to write and post this piece, other than the fact that you were born with a mouth to pour the wine into and bought a computer on which to type this nonsense? If you’re even semi-serious about a tasting, ten minutes of preparatory research would have gone way toward credibility.
“Of course, the problem with wine tastings,” you state, “as anyone who has ever enjoyed a tasting menu with wine pairings can attest, is that by the time you get to the good stuff (the main courses and dessert, or in this case, the really expensive wines), you’re just drunk. ” Ever hear of a spit bucket? I know Jesse keeps at least one around. How can you report on what these wines taste like if you’re swallowing every sample? That’s drinking, not tasting. Perhaps it’s inappropriate to be spitting at a dinner gathering, but only a total hack wouldn’t make arrangements to taste — as in spitting and tasting notes — a few minutes before the event. That’s what professionals like Adrian and Jesse do when they’re setting up a tasting like this, and I’m sure they would have been happy to have you join them if you told them you wanted to write a proper report on the wines. But how would you know that? This is clearly subject matter with which you are completely unfamiliar.
If this was a site about social events and such, perhaps this posting would have been sufficient. But for a blog with pretensions of real wine and food writing, this is truly an incompetent, silly piece.
I guess it’s true what they say about so much of the tripe posted on many blogs — anyone with an internet connection and two fingers can claim to be offering real information and informed opinion.