Thursday – Bubbles and ‘that Drum article’
It seems I reached a level of infamy this week via a rant by non-wine drinking comedian Ben Pobje, who shot himself in the foot by admitting that he knew nothing about wine and was just ranting for the sake of it.
To be honest I thought the article was funny, if a little aggressive, and I responded in jest – suggesting Ben might want to come with me and try some wine before shooting his mouth off. Sadly no response there – I’m still waiting.
What did surprise, though, was to see him personally attacking people on twitter – and others in the comments section of the article – who disagreed with him. Less cool. And less fun too, as name calling is a poor attempt at debating.
Anyways, I it was fun riling him, but I was also a little disappointed too – surely the article could have directed more than 60 new visitors to this little blog? Doesn’t anyone click through to links in articles anymore? :).
Now, on the tasting bench today:
Ayala Brut Majeur NV ($70 retail) – apparently this is/was available in retail land for $55/bottle, at which price it’s a steal. A fragrant, clearly Pinot dominant and correct sort of Champagne with a palate that starts perfectly, before getting a little broad through the middle. I thought it might be a little too much dosage but if finishes too dry for that. Ultimately its clean and classy, needing only more delineation to be great. I’d drink a glass, though would look for something with more character at $70. 17.5/20, 91/100
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3 Comments
At around $70 you can usually pick up the Agrapart NV which is a much more interesting (to my mind) wine.
Last year I was in the UK at a fancy Champagne bar in Leeds and Ayala was the house Champagne – £35 a bottle (retail it looks to be in ~ £20). Shows how depressingly expensive this stuff is here.
Spot on. That Agrapart is lovely stuff. Ditto Rene Geoffroy or Jacquesson or heaps more that are tastier for $70. Apparently the Ayala comes in for $40 via the grey market, at which price it's more than palatable.
Ha! Ben Pobje has always been an attention whore, and the article is just designed to infuriate anyone who disagrees with him. It's base level 'opinion' journalism. Its the same argument people who don't get wine push time and time again – 'one article seems to support what I think, I will tell the world that for a fact every 'wine wanker' is wrong!'
We won't go into the reasons why the article is wrong (personal taste and bottle variability seem decent enough reasons from the very top of my head in my half asleep state), but suffice it to say that Ben just doesn't get wine, and arguing and enabling his ego (anyone who can pump out 100s of tweets a day must have some massive ego) will just draw more attention to what he's saying.
One thing people don't get is that 'wine wankers' know that reviews and competitions are subjective. They have to be. People who drink wine learn to trust certain reviewers recommendations, as people with similar taste to them. It isn't about finding a wine of objective quality (this is where Parker et al with their 100 point 'perfect wines' dilute our argument, and serve very little to no purpose), what I look for when i read reviews, especially yours Andrew, is wines you enjoy a lot, and then I look at where they match my tastes. If you say you like XYZ Shiraz for ABC reasons, chances are I will like it because I like Shiraz, and ABC are appealing qualities to me.
Wouldn't get too hung up on it, hopefully is brings some positive exposure to the site Andrew!