A wine columnist takes on dubious tasting-note claims
Ottawa historian and oenophile Rod Phillips, author of A Short History of Wine, is on a one-man crusade against the sort of esoteric claims commonly made by his fellow wine writers. Quoting recent reviews of the same Rhone red, he relates how different tasters variously reported “hoisin sauce,” “dried prunes,” “beets” and “chocolate syrup.” Can one wine be all that and still taste like grapes? Phillips makes you wonder.