Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough?

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Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/10/2024 2:44:51 PM

Jenise

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I just read thru the Rating Similarity thread coincidentally after just thumbing thru recent TNs of mine on Chablis wines to recover the name of a recent wine I loved. (A Laurent Tribut, FWIW.) The exercise was frustrating, and I'm frustrated about this frequently. And that's that for me, 'neutral' is actually a different way of saying I don't like it. You could call it 'Don't Like It Lite'. Whether I don't like a wine because it's just plain awful or something I recognize as 'okay just not my thing'--is actually immaterial.

Far more useful to me in posting my own notes and reading notes from others would be two ways of saying I Like It, especially since I rarely award points. There's a vast difference between a wine that I find pretty acceptable and a wine I'd kill to have again.

Anyone else feel this way?

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/10/2024 4:29:33 PM

KPB

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I agree… but sometimes I forget to click the “like” box!

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/10/2024 4:54:32 PM

CranBurgundy

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"I love it" would be nice to have.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/10/2024 5:18:43 PM

DoubleD1969

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quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
"I love it" would be nice to have.

^ This and “Back up the truck!”

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/10/2024 6:21:09 PM

khmark7

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quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
"I love it" would be nice to have.

^ This and “Back up the truck!”

Doesn't suck as an option?

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 9:10:35 AM

BobMilton

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To me, a wine is neutral if I will drink it (i.e. it isn't awful) but I don't like it enough to buy it.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 11:16:26 AM

xyc

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A different but similar issue. A wine may be correctly made and qualify as correct for its type. I may not like the grape, the style, the fresh young grapiness, something else. Why should I penalize the wine for my taste preferences? I don't like it but it will appeal to other tasters. I use neutral for lack of alternatives and note it is of its type.

(in reply to Jenise)

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 3:20:35 PM

Jenise

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Oops-

< Message edited by Jenise -- 4/11/2024 3:21:11 PM >

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 5:13:00 PM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
"I love it" would be nice to have.

^ This and “Back up the truck!”

^Buy the vineyard.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 5:45:26 PM

KPB

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I like the idea of an OMG option.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/11/2024 8:02:10 PM

Paul852

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quote:

ORIGINAL: xyc

A different but similar issue. A wine may be correctly made and qualify as correct for its type. I may not like the grape, the style, the fresh young grapiness, something else. Why should I penalize the wine for my taste preferences? I don't like it but it will appeal to other tasters. I use neutral for lack of alternatives and note it is of its type.

I agree on this. I have certainly marked wines as high as 89 (top end of Very Good) that I didn't mark as "Like". (Perhaps higher but it doesn't seem possible to produce a list of my TNs based on NOT(Liked It))

(in reply to xyc)

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/12/2024 10:00:22 AM

Jenise

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quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy

"I love it" would be nice to have.

Exactly. Or KBP's "OMG". I just posted about two beautifully made Washington syrahs. Liked both but one was definitely in the OMG territory.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/12/2024 1:11:05 PM

DoubleD1969

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quote:

ORIGINAL: S1

quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
"I love it" would be nice to have.

^ This and “Back up the truck!”

^Buy the vineyard.

😂

(in reply to S1)

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/12/2024 4:06:33 PM

recotte

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Jenise

quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy

"I love it" would be nice to have.

Exactly. Or KBP's "OMG". I just posted about two beautifully made Washington syrahs. Liked both but one was definitely in the OMG territory.

I agree. I don't assign numeric scores, so it would be nice to have an indicator for those truly exceptional experiences.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/12/2024 7:43:51 PM

skifree

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I rarely hit the "like" button, it always feels like damning with faint praise. Also, it feels too general - I am drinking one bottle, not an entire vintage. There are no great wines, only great bottles.....

Instead, I use the 100 point scale. "Very good" (85-89) is just that, "outstanding" (90-94) is just that, but 95 and above is, well, "delicious"! (Kudos to (the late) John and Dottie for that vernacular).

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/12/2024 7:51:04 PM

fanglangzhe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: xyc

A different but similar issue. A wine may be correctly made and qualify as correct for its type. I may not like the grape, the style, the fresh young grapiness, something else. Why should I penalize the wine for my taste preferences? I don't like it but it will appeal to other tasters. I use neutral for lack of alternatives and note it is of its type.

I respectfully disagree. Ratings are subjective (IMO) and my scores/TNs/LIKE categorisation reflect my own personal preferences and nothing less/more. So I have no problem "penalizing" or "rewarding" a wine based on my own personal preferences. However, I know some forum members have found a few of my TNs to be useful. Which is also great.

< Message edited by fanglangzhe -- 4/12/2024 7:58:54 PM >

(in reply to xyc)

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/13/2024 11:09:47 AM

xyc

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Is the wine well made for its type seems to me more informative. There are varietals I won't rate because I dislike them. If I don't disclose my prejudices I'm not providing a useful review. And, providing outlier reviews, compared to pros and the rest of the reviews, with no explanation, appears unnecessarily arbitrary.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/13/2024 5:12:47 PM

Paul852

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quote:

ORIGINAL: xyc
Is the wine well made for its type seems to me more informative.

I always struggle with this concept and people's use of the word "correct" in TNs. I don't feel that it is axiomatic that there is a single "correct" result for a particular type of wine. For me a wine being different from the norm is more interesting than being some sort of perfect correctness.

A case in point - I had a Chateau Margaux not so long ago which was really nice wine, and it was exactly what I had imagined "correct" Margaux to be. But my overall response was "meh" because there was nothing interesting or unexpected there.

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/13/2024 7:30:01 PM

fingers

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quote:

ORIGINAL: khmark7

quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

quote:

ORIGINAL: CranBurgundy
"I love it" would be nice to have.

^ This and “Back up the truck!”

Doesn't suck as an option?

Translating into a star rating system, we could go from the current 3 stars to 6 stars. That might be more acceptable / plausible

(in reply to khmark7)

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/13/2024 8:13:43 PM

Ibetian

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Or we could just, you know, score it, which is basically an 85-100 scale system?

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RE: Don't Like, Neutral and Like--is that enough? - 4/13/2024 10:14:52 PM

fanglangzhe

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Paul852

quote:

ORIGINAL: xyc
Is the wine well made for its type seems to me more informative.

I always struggle with this concept and people's use of the word "correct" in TNs. I don't feel that it is axiomatic that there is a single "correct" result for a particular type of wine. For me a wine being different from the norm is more interesting than being some sort of perfect correctness.

A case in point - I had a Chateau Margaux not so long ago which was really nice wine, and it was exactly what I had imagined "correct" Margaux to be. But my overall response was "meh" because there was nothing interesting or unexpected there.

I agree. This is related to the idea that wine ratings should be "objective" and personal preference should not be relevant at all - which I also totally disagree with. It just doesn't reflect how almost everybody rates wines. Including the professional wine critics.

(in reply to Paul852)

Post #: 21