The Pitiful Bordelais

Mark Fisher over at Wine Sediments gives us the heads up on a development which is at once pitiful while also indicative of the crisis that exists in the French wine industry.

Fisher reports and comments on the fact that at the upcoming "redo" of the famed Paris Tasting of 1976, at which American wines surprising bested French wines and put this country's vino on the map, will in fact not be a BLIND tasting as it was the first time around. There will be simultaneous tastings in  London and in Napa Valley.

What does this mean? As Fisher puts it, it means "BAWK bawk bawk BAWK bawk bawk BAWK."
Acording to Decanter, "there has been some opposition from Bordeaux owing to the chateaux involved in the original tasting not wishing to have their wines tasted blind against Californian wines."

It has now been decided to taste the wines will be presented semi-blind – the panels will know which region but not which wine they are tasting.

Let's be clear. There is only one reason why you would not want to taste wines blind in an tasting meant to rank wines: You want to be sure you don't rate certain wines too high or too low. In the case of the French, it's a matter of both. And it's a pitiful indication of the inferiority complex that is invading the French wine industry.

One of two things should happen as a result of the French demand that the wines not be tasted blind: 1) the tasting  should be scrapped because it is a useless exercise with no value or 2) The American tasters should, at the Napa Valley tasting, insist that the wines be tasted blind or not taste any of them.

Comments

[Lenn]

This is ludicrous. They think they are fooling the public into putting ANYTHING into the results of this tasting?

[Steve T.]

Public tasting, blind or otherwise, without food is just a silly exercise anyways. Who cares?

[Tish]

I'd cut them some slack. A tasting doesn't have to be blind to have value. No reason to think that the cross-Atlantic discussions can't still be lively and significant. I think by making it blind, the format won't overshadow the eminent panelists. If you really want to talk about chickens, look closer to home. Will a Wine Spectator editor EVER taste wines blind in public? Not a chance. Because anyone with experience tasting wine knows that it is practically impossible to replicate numerical scores.

[Tish]

OOPS, I meant by NOT making it blind, the organizers will avoid the format overshadowing the process...

[Erwin Dink]

Had the '76 tasting not been blind then I wouldn't think much of this development. As it is, though, the marketing of the event has had the feel of a rematch and rematches are moot unless the original circumstances are recreated as closely as possible.

[steve]

סוכך זרועות הוא סוכך המכסה שטחים גדולים באופן דקורטיבי, ללא תמיכת עמודים וללא צורך בהכנת תשתית מיוחדת כדי להרכיבו, ללא צורך רשיונות וכו'. הוא אינו תופס נפח, אינו משאיר אחריו קונסטרוקציה משהוא מקופל וסגור. שילדת סוכך הזרועות עשויה מאלומיניום אל-חלד בציפוי אפוקסי לבן או שנהב בהשגחת מכון התקנים.

ניתן לקפל או לפתוח את סוכך הזרועות בקלות, ע"י לחיצת כפתור בהפעלת מנוע חשמלי, או ע"י תמסורת ידנית וארכובה (מנואלה), ניתן לשלוט בשטח הפתיחה הרצוי.

את הסוכך ניתן להזמין במידות שונות ובדגמים שונים, בהתאמה לאופי המקום ועל פי דרישותיו של הלקוח. סוכך הזרועות מיועד לבתים פרטיים, דירות גג, פנטהאוזים, מרפסות, חלונות ובתי עסק שונים.

סוכך הזרועות מיועד בעיקר לשימוש בקיץ. בחורף מומלץ לסגור אותו ולשלוף את הוולן כדי שלא יתבלה מהרוחות של החורף. הוא מגן מפני שמש, חום, לחות, אבק ומפני עיניים סקרניות של השכנים. כיסוי הסוכך עשוי בעיקר מבדי דרלון אבל גם מבדי שמשונית (PVC)

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