Value. Money. Opportunity. Knowledge. I got thinking about this when I read this from the beer columnist for the Star-Ledger about the wine columnist for the Star-Ledger:
I love reading John Foy's wine column in the Star-Ledger. His descriptions of the wines are quite evocative:
The 2004 and 2006 show the same pedigree of bright red color, and a plethora of aromas ranging from raspberry, cherry, cinnamon, white pepper, roses and black raisins. Both are medium bodied with delicious fruit emitting raspberry, cranberry and bitter cherry flavors with harmonious tannins. There is an undercurrent of vanilla in the aroma and flavor from the oak barrels that is pleasing because it is not obvious.
By the time I finish reading those descriptions, I'm ready to get out a corkscrew, a loaf of French bread and some brie. But then I read the price: 63 bucks. Yikes! It's back to beer for me.
Really? The article goes on to talk about the lack of objective truth about wine. What is it we value about thinking about drinks? Are the drinks tastier? Saturday afternoon, I finally took the advice on the back of the bottle and just poured ginger ale into my Pimms rather than making the full punch. I needed no Pimms pundit to tell me that. The bottle told me. There is, in fact, no result at all when you place pimmspundit.com into Google. Some guy called Pimm had the blog. Shame. Opportunity awaits to corner the market.
Or maybe its indirect value. Maybe it's that the language and the thoughts allow you to be or do something or hang out with those who are or do? I dunno. I have always suspected that there is value in increasing the value of beer to those who write about beer because it's always good to be the smart person in the room when it comes to things that cost more than other things. Show me the person who made it by being the expert on how kids play with sticks. Kids play with sticks. Sticks are free. Limited guru opportunity. Like Pimms in a way. Take stick. Throw or drag. Take Pimms. Add ginger ale or make punch.
The article implies the direction towards less is better. It seems to tie over-thinking and over-pricing. Could that be true?
Comments
Bailey - January 17, 2012 7:26 AM
Isn't the thinking/talking/waxing lyrical about drinks just a kind of foreplay?
(Although the experience of drinking something which has got someone's lyrical wax all over it is actually almost always disappointing...)
Pivní Filosof - January 17, 2012 8:37 AM
The issue here (and with reviews of beverages and restaurants in general) is that often the professional reviewers seem to have lost touch with the concept of value.
Alan - January 17, 2012 9:08 AM
I think there is a difference between a true dedicated pro and what we call in Canada a Junior B. I was actually recently struck by two writers trying to make a go of it who were obsessed with the word "I" and "me" - and how that was an intimate part of their valuation of the beer experience. I think I just nicknamed them "Pimm's bloggers" from now on.
Pok - January 18, 2012 1:14 PM
Perhaps the professional reviewer seeks out the thing that almost no one has had the opportunity to consume and thus this rarer thing comes with a hefty price befitting its relative scarcity or newness on the market. The professional reviewer is on much safer ground describing the thing that few else have tasted than say the high value bottle that sells very well at the local beer and wine store. Maybe reviewers fear the pox on those who dare to diss grandma's favorite $9 plonk.