Today on Serious Grape: Women and Wine

The results of a new study on women and wine are out.

Guess what?

Women buy wine because they like the way it tastes and because it goes well with food. (photo by rolands.lakis)

For these and other shocking revelations, check out this week's post on Serious Grape, my weekly column on Serious Eats.

When will the wine business get it? Women aren't a niche market. We're buying 80% of the wine.

If that's a niche, what do we call the other 20% of the people buying wine? The majority?

Wine Book Club #4: Tasting Pleasure

Today I'm participating in the 4th edition of the Wine Book Club, hosted by Farley the Wine Poet from Wine Outlook.

The title she picked, Jancis Robinson's Tasting Pleasure, was one of those classic wine books that I always meant to read, but somehow never quite got around to opening. I'm so glad that Farley got this book of my shelf and into my hands. Robinson has a wonderful voice when she writes, and I was quickly caught up in the story of how she developed from a wine novice to a wine expert.

Robinson's wine roots go back to Italy, where she drank wine from the local co-op while working as a maid in a hotel, but her earnest study of wine happened at Oxford University. You may associate Oxford with rowing, rugby, and the debates at the Union (not necessarily in that order) but I can tell you from first-hand experience that the University may be the world's best wine-appreciation experience for those under 21. Colleges and other university institutions have had cellars since the medieval period, and students and dons in residence there take wine knowledge as seriously as they take Shakespeare's sonnets and particle physics.

It was not until Robinson left Oxford that she began her circuitous route (via working in the travel industry and working in a wine bar) towards becoming a wine writer. And it is where Robinson talks about writing about wine that she is at her absolute best in what is a marvelous all-around book. Throughout this memoir, the reader is struck again and again by her sensitivity to the individual palate, her concern that truly extraordinary and different wines don't become lost in a sea of homogeneous wines shaped by a mysterious collective palate that emerges in tasting panels, and her humility concerning what she still doesn't know about wine. At points, she almost apologizes for her hesitancy in making wine recommendations, but this (I think) is one of the reasons she is so very good at what she does: she believes that all she is qualified to tell you is whether she likes a wine or not, and why.

The subtitle of this book, Confessions of a Wine Lover, is really the best possible description for her chatty, informal, and tell-all story. Robinson does not tell us everything, perhaps, but she tells us an awful lot (including her childhood experiences battling anorexia) in a way that makes us laugh, gasp in admiration, and shake our heads in disbelief at the way the wine world works. By the end of the book, it is almost impossible not to like her enormously and respect her deeply for what she accomplished as one of the first women in the wine writing business.

A resounding thank you to Farley for picking this classic title. If you didn't read along with us these past two months, I hope that this review convinces you to put Tasting Pleasure on your list of must-reads in the future. Farley has promised us a round-up of posts next week, and I'll post the title we're reading for the 5th edition of the Wine Book Club on September 2. And if you'd like to participate in the Wine Book Club as a host or as a "Spin the Bottle" featured reviewer, please let me know in the comments or by dropping me an email.

Wine Book Club #4: Tasting Pleasure by Jancis Robinson

We'll be Tasting Pleasure during the dog days of summer thanks to the leader of the 4th edition of the Wine Book Club, Farley of Behind the Vines.

Tasting Pleasure: Confessions of a Wine Lover ($18; used copies available for under $2!) is a classic wine book written by one of the most illustrious wine writers in the world, Jancis Robinson. Known for her direct, witty writing style, Robinson talks about her career in the wine biz as it evolved from contributing writer to international wine expert. I'm hoping that some of the bloggers from the US wine biz join in this month and tell us how the inner workings of the UK wine biz differ from those on this side of the pond. And the book will also offer insights into the experiences of women and wine writing (as well as the wine world more generally).

When our attention wanes and our good intentions start falling by the wayside, we'll be reminded to pick up Tasting Pleasure when Michelle from My Wine Education "spins the bottle" and reviews Natalie MacLean's Red, White, and Drunk All Over. This is one of the more recent wine books written by a woman, and MacLean is open about following in Jancis Robinson's footsteps. The two books offer an interesting compare/contrast exercise in writing style and substance.

A surprising number of wine lovers and bloggers confess to never having read this book, and if you are one of them I hope that you will consider joining us for WBC #4. We only had three participants in June, and I'm hoping that we have at least four this time around. If you are a blogger, please publicize this event on your site and consider joining in. And if you are one of those widely-read folks who has read this book before, your reminiscences will be welcome, too--and you can leave encouraging comments below. Please post your "book report" on the due date of Tuesday, August 26. For more details, please see Farley's post, or visit our club pages on Shelfari or Facebook.

Coming in the September/October "back to school" edition of the WBC: a book that's hot off the presses that's written by a wine blogger. Stay tuned for details.

Wine's Gender Gap?

We hear a lot about the gender gap these days. Women are from Venus, men are from Mars. Men are for Barack, women are for Hillary. Women like white wine, men like red. (photo Moët is Murder (or "Where Wine Comes From") by Bitrot)

While I have to respect the fact that in some households there is tension about wine choice, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that gets my blood pressure on the rise faster than the notion that somehow women have to be treated "special" to get them to buy, drink, or understand wine. Wines named after clothing, beauty products, derogatory names, sexual come-ons--we've seen them all, with press releases that announce "wine especially for women." Richard the Passionate Foodie reports that the most recent advanced market studies have concluded that older women can be convinced to buy wine by putting some flowers on the label.

Flowers.

They're kidding, right?

Alas, no. This kind of bizarre thinking on behalf of wine marketers is fueled, I think, by the "I only drink chardonnay" and "White wine is wimpy" nonsense that you sometimes overhear in restaurants and bars. I always want to walk over, remove the wine list from hands of the people engaged in such conversation, and tell them to order martinis and/or daiquiris and be done with it. Turns out this wine gender gap is so treacherous, entire articles have been written to try to guide couples across it. Try beaujolais--your wife will love it, and never notice it's not chardonnay. Try a BIG chardonnay--your husband will thank you for introducing him to a high alcohol wine that's not zin.

Here's what I think: this is not about gender, it's about fear. Women are afraid to try something new and red in case they get either the hard sell ("you don't love this wine? You have to love this wine? It's HUGE!"), the dismissal ("I can't believe you don't know enough to know this is a great wine"), or the disappointment of drinking a wine that is so alcoholic that they wake up the next day feeling dreadful. Though, ladies, you need to check that nice chardonnay you're drinking--they often have more alcohol than the reds. Men are afraid to try something new and white in case they get the "real men don't drink white wine" speech from a friend, because they found they liked zinfandels in 1976 and haven't wanted to appear ignorant about wine since then so order the same thing over and over, or because they actually can't taste anything that isn't a 15.5% alcohol red (these are the same people who say "white wine is so THIN" while drinking a German Riesling Spatlese).

I'm all for people liking what they like, and then drinking it. But I put it to you: how do you know you only like chardonnay if that's all you drink? And don't reply that you tried an Australian cab in 1992 and didn't like it so you called it a day. Where's your spirit of adventure?

What I'm not for is marketing tactics based on fear. We're being told this all boils down to whether we have XX or XY chromosomes. Fiddlestix (a line of damn fine wines made by a woman that includes both reds and whites--you should try them). This is not about whether you are a man or a woman, or like reds or whites when you go to the wine store. It's about how to get a fearful wine consumer to buy a wine despite the terror they are going to do something wrong. Slap a flower, a man in a cowboy hat, or a fuzzy animal on a wine label and it turns out that their fear evaporates.

I don't buy it. Their fear hasn't gone anywhere. Thank you Marketing Geniuses. You've actually made the fear of wine worse by explaining it away as a gender issue.

Drinking Direct Ship Wine? Raise a Glass to Juanita Swedenburg

If you are now able to drink a wine that came directly to you from the winery--and you weren't able to do that before 2005--you have Juanita Swedenburg to thank for it, at least in part. On June 9, octogenarian Juanita Swedenburg, who took on inter-state wine shipping regulations and took her fight all the way to the Supreme Court, died at her home in Middleburg, VA. (photo by Don Wilson of the Institute for Justice)

This card-carrying member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and former Foreign Service Officer took on the big guns of interstate shipping and made the quiet, convincing argument that the wine that she and her husband, Wayne, made at their historic Virginia farm was no different from any other agricultural product. She could sell her hay in another state, why not her wine? Wasn't it un-Constitutional to restrict her access to free trade?

The Supreme Court agreed with her and her fellow petitioners, and handed down a decision on May 16, 2005 that a state could not set up different restrictions for wineries that were in-state, and those that were out-of-state. It was the first major blow against direct shipping restrictions, and one that continues to be fought by Free the Grapes and other organizations and winery coalitions. Sadly, her business- and life-partner Wayne had died one year earlier, and did not survive to see their victory.

The Swedenburg family has established an fund at the Virginia Wine Growers Association to promote education and the Virginia wine industry. If you'd like to make a contribution in Juanita's honor, send it to the Juanita Swedenburg Memorial Education Fund, c/o VWGA, P.O. Box 10045, Alexandria, VA 22310.

What is Wrong With This Picture?

You see before you 5 of the 11 major contributors to the May 15 edition of Wine Spectator. The other 6 were men, too. I'm sure they are all very nice men, and knowledgeable about wine, and deserve their jobs. But women got the vote in 1920. Women currently spend more money than men on wine in this country. Some even say women have more sensitive palates than men.

So can somebody explain how Wine Spectator can have this kind of editorial lineup in 2007? Are you seriously telling me that there isn't a single woman in the world capable of writing on wine for Wine Spectator? In the unlikely event that there really are absolutely zero women who know about wine and can write well, then maybe the folks at Wine Spectator should consider going to some journalism programs and creative writing departments and recruiting some women into the ranks. I personally would like to see what would happen if Farley, Megan, Catie, and the Wine Chicks (Kristen, Jay, and Bree) were given access to the kind of tasting opportunities these guys have had. I bet the results would be spectacular.

And while we're at it, why are women consistently overlooked by waiters, sommeliers, wine store personnel, and bartenders? Don't believe me? Check out Farley's post, which is now starting to have echoes around the blogosophere. Sure, I know, there's Jancis/Andrea/Dorothy/Natalie and all the women bloggers, not to mention Divas Uncorked, Women for WineSense, and the Women Wine Critics Board. Still, it can be pretty weird to be a woman and to be interested in wine in this country.

For further evidence, here are some statistics from the May 15 2007 Wine Spectator:

# of pictures in entire magazine excluding advertising* that have women in them: 8
# of pictures of women that are food-related, including restaurant owners, diners, counter personnel, and waitstaff: 6
# of pictures of women that are wine-related: 2 (women sorting grapes in Chile, and the back of a woman in a tasting room).
# of columns written by women: 0
# of items of any sort written by women, according to byline: 1 (Laurie Woolever's 2 paragraph review of NYC restaurant Sant Ambroeus).

*apparently, women are useful in a wine magazine if they are tempting men into buying real estate/golf vacations/wine/cars/luxury goods

What's wrong with this picture?? Where are the women? And where are the people of color? Where are the Guys Without Ties? Is this really the face of wine in 2007? And if not, what can we do about it? Because this is more important than points, folks.

5 Reasons You Should Be Reading Winery Blogs

Do you read winery blogs? If not, you should be. I know, I know: we all have to much to do/read/see/ watch on TV, but if you're a wine lover this is your best opportunity to get information straight from the vineyard, delivered to you by the folks that are actually making the wine you want to drink. (photo by Ian Britton of FreeFoto.com)

Many of the winery blogs I read regularly are extremely well-written, lively, and engaging--which is something to marvel at, considering the fact these folks are blogging in their "spare time" between helping to manage the vineyard, making the wine, averting tasting room disasters, going on public relations junkets, and attending marketing meetings.

So here are the 5 reasons you should read winery blogs, with links to blogs that I think are particularly good.

1. Reading winery blogs dramatically increases your knowledge of winemaking. If you've ever wondered what malolactic fermentation is, or wanted to see a punch-down that doesn't take place in Vegas, then winery blogs are for you. I've learned so much from Jason Haas's Tablas Creek Vineyard Blog, and all the information is delivered in a clear, non-technical fashion with great pictures. (Jason: if you ever leave the wine biz, which I hope you don't, you are a born teacher!) I suscribe so I can keep up with all that's going on in the vineyards, but if you want to learn about winemaking, the impact of weather on grapes, and how work gets done in an organic vineyard, this blog's for you.

2. Winery blogs provide incontrovertible proof that good wine is the result of a long and thoughtful process, not just a marketing strategy. Josh Hermsmeyer, of the new Capozzi Family Vineyards that he started in the Russian River Valley with his wife Candace, has given us a peak into not only the physical work that makes a great winery, but the mental work, as well. His blog, PinotBlogger, has posted on everything from designing their tasting room to the most lucid discussion of Pinot Noir clones I've ever read to how they came up with the name. If you've secretly yearned for a vineyard of your own, Josh's blog brings that experience to you and gives you an awful lot to think about before you take the plunge.

3. Winery blogs demonstrate that wine is made by real people--or at least it should be. This is the best reason, I think. I love getting to know the people behind the wines that I drink. It makes the whole wine experience richer and more satisfying to get to know the people who make you so happy after a hell of a day at work. And how many of us live within driving distance of any--never mind all--of our favorite wineries. Whether it's folks brandishing chickens at Twisted Oak's blog El Bloggo Torcido, or the more sedate days and nights (ok, except for the lost delivery truck) at the Dover Canyon blog, winery bloggers like Jeff "El Jefe" Stai and Mary Baker paint some great portraits of the characters--human, animal, and mechanical--that are involved in making some terrific wines.

4. Winery blogs remind you that good wine should never be taken for granted. Amy Lillard and Matt King upended their lives in Berkeley and bought a farm in Castillon du Gard where they grow grapes, have converted a farm house into a winery, and are making some great wine after lots of hard work. Reading Amy's blog at La Gramiere reminds us all that wine takes time, effort, passion, and love. So, too, does Mike and Helen's blog It's My Vineyard, which focuses on growing grapes and making wine in the Regnie district of the Beaujolais. All the highs and lows of life are captured in farming and winemaking, and that's why it's so special.

5. Winery blogs help to make a personal connection between you, the winemakers, the grape growers, and the wine you are drinking. Who could imagine that two women with roots to the English city of Liverpool, would both be wine fanatics, live in California, and blog? Sometimes the unimaginable happens in the blogosphere, as I discovered when I started reading Elsbeth Wetherill's blog, the Vineyard Diary. She and her husband Steve were wine pioneers in the San Antonio Valley AVA in Monterey, and Escafeld makes the best Petit Verdot I've ever tasted (stay tuned for my thoughts on their Merlot and Zinfandel). Also in Monterey County, Annette Hoff of blogs about her work at Cima Collina, where she draws together grapes grown by superb Monterey growers and crafts them into distinct and distinguished wines. Reading her blog makes me feel like I know all about the growers, the grapes, and the folks who put it all together in the winemaking. It's these personal connections to wine that turn a beverage into a life-long obsession--at least for some of us.

I'll be putting up a new set of links in my never-ending side bar to help you find these great blogs more easily in the coming weeks in case you lose track of this post. But why not subscribe to a few winery blog feeds or bookmark these sites now? And if I've missed your favorite winery blog, please let me know by leaving a comment so that I can include them in the list of links.

Winery Watch: Red Head Ranch

This is the fourth in a series of posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with them--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. Have fun! To read previous posts in the series, click here.

Gentlemen may prefer blondes (though I've never been absolutely convinced about that).

But grapevines adore redheads. Or at least they adore this redhead, Marilyn Ashkin. (photo courtesy of Red Head Ranch)

I know this because I've tasted some of the wines from the Red Head Ranch portfolio, and they are astonishing. It's rare to taste wine and still be able, weeks afterwards, to remember what struck you so forcefully about one producer's wines. But I can remember exactly what blew me away about Red Head Ranch wines at the Family Winemakers Tasting in March: they have elegance, silky texture, powerful flavors, and balance. Think Rita Hayworth. Can you see her in your mind? OK, Red Head Ranch makes Rita Hayworth wines.

When I met Marilyn, she was standing proudly behind her lineup of wines, with her son at her side. She had a quiet dignity that I think is linked to the enormous respect that she has for the wine she makes, and the people who make it with her. At the tasting, she was the first to give credit to her consulting winemaker, Steve Glossner, for his skill. And on the website, the members of the Red Head Ranch family are highlighted, and their individual contributions noted, from her husband Peter (the CEO or "Chief Equipment Officer), to business partner Leon Chen, manager Darrel Heirendt, supervisor Rodrigo Lamas, and vineyard workers Leopoldo H. Mendez and Leopoldo Mendez, Jr. This is truly a modern family winery--in the very best sense.

Peter and Marilyn bought the Red Head Ranch in Paso Robles 1997, becoming custodians of historic vineyard properties that date back to the 1880s. One of Marilyn's passions is the care and feeding of "Grandma," one of the vines that remains from those first plantings which she tended and brought back to flourishing life. Since then, the Ashkins have been able to purchase the Beckwith Vineyard in 2001, and to partner with Leon Chen at the Old Bailey Vineyard.

Red Head Ranch's wine making philosophy is apparent from the moment you visit their home page. They think the essential ingredients of their wine are: passion, quality, perseverance, excellence, community, family, sharing, history, and fun. What a great way to express what you do, and what you think is important. And it's a philosophy that I can embrace with enthusiasm. They seem to practice what they preach, too. Never have I seen such happy faces in a vineyard photo album--even during the hard but rewarding work of harvest and crush. (photo courtesy of Red Head Ranch)

On to the wines. The 2004s I tasted, and which are reviewed below, are Red Head Ranch's third bottlings. Currently, Red Head ranch is selling these wines in multiples of 3 bottles through their online store. Clicking on any of the wine names below will take you to the appropriate page in their store, where you can learn more. Red Head Ranch also has a wine club, which would enable you to get a half-case sampler every six months at a reduced, members-only price. Of course, if you want to try their wines you can also heckle your local store to carry them--I'm lobbying my local shops, I assure you!

2004 Red Head Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon ($29). I loved this wine--and at the price it represented excellent QPR. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are blended with 25% Petit Verdot to produce a rich, full-bodied wine. Abundant aromas and flavors of cassis and coffee are accompanied by a distinctive note of pencil shavings that is more common to fine Bordeaux than New World wines. Unfiltered, this is an outstanding old-world style cabernet blend.

2004 Red Head Ranch R3 ($24). An intriguing blend of three varietals: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec. The amazing thing is, you can taste all three! This is a blend with brains--not a single blurred or mushy note mars it. Red fruit aromas turn into a cascade of plum, cassis, and smoke. Excellent QPR for this easy drinking red, which is again marked by a lovely silkiness of texture.

2004 Red Head Ranch Pinot Noir ($28). No, I did not type Pinot Noir by mistake. Paso Robles Pinot? A relative rarity, but Red Head Ranch proves it can be done! Pinot Noir is a showcase varietal for Red Head Ranch's ability to make silky, elegant, and balanced wine. Here the flavor profile is dominated by cherries, with notes of mushroom, earth, roast coffee and cocoa to keep the wine interesting. Excellent QPR on this complex pinot charmer.

2004 Red Head Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Old Bailey Vineyard ($40). This outstanding young cabernet is made entirely of Paso Robles fruit from the Old Bailey Vineyard, where the varietal is Leon Chen's passion. That passion shows in this wine, with its bright red fruit aromas and flavors accented by cocoa and dark chocolate notes. This is still a young wine, and needs some time to settle down and show to its full potential. I suspect this will grow into a signature wine for the Ranch, one that has great balance with that distinctive RHR silkiness and finesse. Only 150 cases were made of this very good QPR cab, that would certainly qualify as a special occasion wine.

Red Head Ranch also bottles Zinfandel (both Late Harvest and regular), Chenin Blanc, and Petit Verdot. I didn't taste these wines, but if you have please leave a note and let us know. Meanwhile, remember that gentlemen may prefer blondes, and perhaps even marry brunettes, but if you want to be where the grapevines are, stick to Red Heads.

Next Week: Vinum Cellars

Playing Blog Tag

Why do you blog? Russ at Winehiker started a game of blog-tag posing this question, and he tagged Farley, and Farley from Wine Outlook tagged me and now, I'm It.

It's a good question, and one whose answer we wine bloggers (and other bloggers, too!) take for granted. First and foremost, of course: I LOVE WINE. But here are 5 other reasons why I blog, with some subtle variations to the question:

1. Why start blogging? Part of my day job requires that I write--a lot. Often these writing projects take years--hell, sometimes they take decades. There is a lot of delayed gratification and long-term thinking involved in most of the writing I do. I started blogging because I thought that committing myself to write something every day, and instantly seeing the results, would have positive effects on the other writing that I do. And, I was right! Now that I write nearly every day on the blog, I find its easy to roll from the blog to my other writing. I also find that my other writing tends to be less forced and more fluid when I sit down to the other stuff.

2. Why do I blog about this? I went to school and then taught at UC Davis, i.e. Wine Education Mecca. I learned a lot about wine from the courses and contact with great professors there. (even though, I hasten to add, I was not a Vit-Eno major) This blog represented a way for me to focus my wine drinking and evaluation on two of the most valuable things I learned through those experiences: the importance of judging a wine by varietal characteristics, and the huge benefits associated with owning your own copy of Ann Noble's Aroma Wheel.

3. Why keep blogging? I never imagined anyone other than my parents and friends would read this blog, so it has come as a pleasant surprise to become part of a community of bloggers, wine geeks, and those just starting out on their wine journeys. I keep blogging not only because of #1 and #2, but because now that this blog is up and running it continues to engage both me--and a widening audience--of readers and contributors.

4. Why keep blogging about wine? Wine can never be truly mastered. It's all about the process. Even the most "expert" experts don't claim that they know all there is to know about wine. In fact, the greatest experts are often the most humble. (see also #1 on process)

5. Why do I think blogging about wine matters? Because everyone who writes, reads, or contributes to a wine blog is participating in an information revolution. I truly believe that blogs are changing the way people learn about and consume wine. In particular, I am committed to getting more women to actively engage with wine writing, because women purchase 77% of wine in the US and yet represent only a small (growing to be sure, but still small) fraction of wine writers both in the blogosphere and outside it. So I encourage everyone--women and men--to read, write, and leave comments as you travel through the blogosphere to keep the information rolling. New voices are crucial in wine writing, and those new voices include YOU.

So, now I get to tag people! This was truly hard because my possible options included all the people whose work I respect and admire, folks who inspire me, my blogging friends, and then folks like Jancis Robinson (I don't have the cajones to tag her, I confess, but if you're reading, Ms. Robinson, please feel free to respond). But to continue with my riff in #5, I decided to "remember the ladies" and tag some of my favorite women bloggers (minus Farley at Wine Outlook and Sonadora at Wannabe Wino, because they've already been tagged). Click on over to the sites below through the following links so they know they've been tagged--I know that they are probably too busy to read my site everyday and know that they're IT!

So here's what I want to know from the ladies below: why do YOU blog?

Catie at Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine
Gabriella Opaz and Adrienne Smith at Catavino (sorry Ryan!)
The Wine Chicks
Mary Baker at Dover Canyon
Sam Breach of Becks N Posh

Bacchanalia Begins Today

Today marks the start of an ancient festival of interest to wine bloggers and readers: Bacchanalia. (Bacchus, by Caravaggio) Unbelievably, given its meaning, Bacchanalia has not yet been used as a wine blog name...at least not as far as I can tell.

Celebrated in groves near Rome's Aventine Hill on March 16 and March 17 (presumably by those who got through the Ides of March), this pagan festival celebrated the ancient god Bacchus. God of wine and fertility, Bacchus became a popular symbol of debauchery and excess. If you don't believe me, type Bacchanalia into Google Images and see what pops up! Originally, the festivals were only open to women and happened three times a year; then men were admitted and they started happening as many as 5 times a month! The cult grew so popular that the Roman Senate banned Bacchanalia festivals in 186 BC.

With all the green beer that will flow tomorrow, it's nice to know that wine drinkers, if they prefer, can hoist a glass to Bacchus, rather than St. Patrick. Of course, you could make the celebration a two-for-one, and serve beer and wine, and have a round of toasts. Happy Bacchanalia!

Wine Writing and the Problem of Objectivity, or Is There Room for a Nigella Lawson of Wine Writing?

Imagine you are reading a recipe. Or a food column. Or a cookbook. This is what it says: "This spaghetti sauce is the color of crushed tomatoes with a hint of brown from the meat. Aromas of basil, tomato, and garlic are followed by pronounced flavors of tomato, browned meat, and herbs with a spicy finish. I give it 97 points." Would you make this? I wouldn't. Sounds too clinically observant, too detached, like it's trying to be objective about spaghetti sauce, which is not something to be objective about! It's devoid of passion, and barely engages the senses. It is, sadly, remarkably like the wine reviews I post here, which fit the cookie-cutter image of what a wine review is supposed to be.

Instead I'd make something like this, copied from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat: "This is my favorite--along with all my other favorites. I love the buttery, eggy, creaminess of the sauce, saltily-spiked with hot-cubed pancetta: it's comforting, but not in a sofa-bound kind of way. It feels like a proper dinner, only it takes hardly any time to cook." Somehow, in just a few lines she manages to convey the mood of this spaghetti, the complexity of it, and most importantly the taste. She tells you how you're going to feel when you eat it. And she admits straight off the bat that she loves it, and loves other food just as much.

Why am I copying recipes on my wine blog? Lately I've been struck by how very different food writing and wine writing really are. Food writing is expected to be subjective; wine writing is supposed to be done under the illusion of objectivity. Which is odd, because for many of us wine is very closely related to food. We think of wine as an ideal accompaniment to a meal, obsess about how to pair wine with a food that will bring out its best characteristics, and often cook with wine as well.

There have been a few posts in the blogosphere lately by Ryan Fujiu and Tom Wark on subjectivity and wine tasting. There have also been some about the perils and possibilities of the 100-point system for wine reviews by Ryan Opaz and Dr. Vino. Just yesterday, guest blogger Steve Bjerklie wrote a piece for Catie on Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine on points, too. Points and objectivity (or the lack thereof) in wine writing seem to be the perennial debates of the wine blogosphere, as far as I can tell. Don't believe me? Go back and look at a thought-provoking article from last March by Laura Ness of Appellation America about women, men and wine points that was posted on the Women Wine Critics Board.

Here's what I think: wine points and the illusion of objectivity are related problems. The leading culprit for giving folks the idea that wine reviews are objective is, alas, the 100-point scale. This is not an entirely novel perspective, but I think it bears repeating.

So I began to wonder, is there room for wine writing that is unabashedly opinionated about wine, for a prose style that is flagrantly personal and marvelously evocative? Is there room for a wine writer who would do for wine writing what Nigella Lawson has done for food writing?

I don't think so. For reasons that I cannot understand, writing about wine like Ms. Lawson writes about food would be cringe-inducing and irritating for most folks. Of course, some people find Lawson's food writing equally annoying. But she is, perhaps, an extreme example of the general trend in food writing in which passion and competence rather than objectivity and expertise is what drives the medium. I think the reverse is true of wine writing: it's driven by objectivity and expertise. Is this because food writing is a genre largely pioneered by women, while wine writing was (and continues to be) a genre dominated by men? Sure there are exceptions--great women wine writers like Jancis Robinson, for example, and great male food writers like James Beard--but I think statistics would support my sense that wine writers and even wine bloggers are largely male. Is this in turn because wine media and marketing are driven by a points mentality and most women, as Steve Bjerklie argues in the column above, are not?

So I wonder, is there some reason why it's ok for a woman to rhapsodize about scrambled eggs but not sauternes? If so, what is it? Does it scream "undisciplined"? Does it smack of amateurism when we are striving for professionalism? Why do we put numbers on wine, but we don't grade other food products? Most important, can you help me figure out why we are ok with impassioned and highly-opinionated accounts of hamburgers but shy away from emphasizing the mysterious, subjective, glorious, and even alchemical properties of this elixir called wine?