After a long hiatus and in spite of the time demands of the holiday crunch, I'm feeling it's high time to dig back into my travel journals from the past few years and start writing up some more winery profiles. My only hesitation is that some of these visits go back nearly five years. The details don't worry me, as my notes are pretty good and even my memory still functions fairly soundly. However, I'd welcome feedback from any and all passersby on a few questions:
- Do you find old tasting notes relevant?
- Does anyone care about Bordeaux any more?
- Is five years (France, February 2004) too long?
- Or should I skip ahead to Italy, February 2006?
9 comments:
I say it depends upon your approach...if the writings are about the experience the dig deep. If the tasting notes are the emphasis then start with something accessible. If you have pics...even better for us all!
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes, a qualified No, No, and No, in that order.
It would be fascinating to me to see how the French wines have evolved compared to February 2004, if you've tasted some of them recently.
Hmmm, perhaps the relative dearth of responses suggests that these were questions that didn't need to be asked. But thanks very much to those of you that did take the time to respond. Your answers were not far from what I expected, and the next installment is now up and running.
1) Yes, if meticulously kept - I can taste a wine by reading one of my old notes, I am sure you will accurately deliver on those memories.
2) Centuries from now the same question will be asked...
3) No, not with good notes.
4) Do both!
Thanks, Joe. My notes from extensive barrel tastings are much more staccato and structural than the more detailed notes I'm able to take when sitting down with a bottle. If I don't feel they add any value, I'll just leave them out (or append them, as in the Ampelidae posting).
I'll definitely get to Italy but I think I'll continue in roughly chronological order, so there are several Bordeaux reports to come.
It's always valid to re-visit past travels, and as thorough as I imagine your notes are, I'd love to read about it.
As for the tasting notes, I'd probably prefer reading more about the properties, proprietors, brief summaries of their productions and your take on it all (as opposed to a long list of tasting notes). Maybe about 70-30 prose to TN ratio. That's just a personal preference, though.
Everyone seems to care about '05 Bordeaux.
Thanks for adding your thoughts, Joe. I can't promise a 70/30 balance, as TNs eat up space quickly, so I think I'll go with the formula I used for the Ampelidae post where the notes appear after the main write-up.
Jared,
Thanks for stopping by. Obviously, 2005 Bordeaux has received a ton of attention. My reports, from visits in Feb. '04, predate the '05 vintage so the notes will largely cover '03s in barrel and earlier vintages from bottle.
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