Community Tasting Note

• JJYoyo Likes this wine: 89 points

  December 9, 2019 - Not bad at all. Nice aromas of cinnamon, clove, smoke over a cherry/ blackberry core. Similar notes on palate with a little metallic edge on mid palate. Not the most sharply delineated and a little short in the finish but really pretty respectable at its price point.
  Score : 89. Relative to expectations: 0
  
  So a little addendum here on how consistent (or not) I am on expectations and scoring as pertains to price: I tasted the 2016 Artemis a while back, scored it 90 and gave it a + for expectations. Compare price with this one: Artemis, about $55; regular Cab Sauv: $44. I think the one point difference in quality is about right, but I think I was a little generous to give the Artemis a +, because although better, it also costs about the right amount more, and should be a 0 in expectations, too. So not perfect consistency, but not horribly all over the map either....
  I remember being on the fence, but giving it the plus mostly because it was a free sample. An object lesson in impartiality and the impossibility of doing it unless you're paying with your own dime. No wonder the professional scorers are consistently higher than CT in scores: they are inevitably going to be at least a little biased away from criticism and toward marketing -- even if it is a tiny bit, some of the time.

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3 Comments

• Brad T commented:

  12/13/19, 2:34 PM - Excellent point about professional vs. consumer scoring, and why I rely on Cellar Tracker more than any professional.

• BrendanMcS commented:

  5/23/20, 3:57 PM - Very interesting point regarding reviews. I usually try to find someone whose palate is similar to mine and enjoys similar wines to me (like Antonio Galloni) and rely a lot on their reviews. Very fair point on reviews in general

• JJYoyo commented:

  5/23/20, 6:07 PM - Yes, although I find it hard to find someone with consistently similar tastes to mine. In Burgundy, Claude Kolm comes to mind. I haven’t found anyone in Bordeaux who is a reliable guide for me. That probably has more to do with my fickleness than the reviewers themselves...

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