Interesting post. I’m always reluctant to give too much detail regarding how one of my wines tastes, smells, feels…in part because, I want people to come to it with as few preconceived notions as possible.

The question I have more difficulty with is “when should I drink this wine?” and “how long should I lay this down?”

Apart from my own ambivalence about the value of aged wines, I think that there is no answer to this question that satisfies all people. Your mention of the “myth” of the subjectivity of wine in regards its tasting falls to the side here, I think. Wines obviously do change over time. At what rate, to what degree, to what effect? is where the notion of subjectivity is inherent. There can never be a standard created that will unerringly dictate that Cabernet must X years old before being drunk, or that it must be stored at 55.3 degrees to bring out it best.

I am digesting the possibility and practicality of a standard for Cabernet from X place. But there are plenty of areas where subjectivity ought not be and can’t be banished.

Are you old enough to know who Leigh Knowles was?

As pres. of Beaulieu some years ago, he did terrific radio ads that talked about wine the way you cite Sam Adams does.

I did some work for him in the visitor’s center at Beaulieu, where we created an audio visual piece that covered the same kind of material in the same consumer-oriented attitude.

He was ahead of his time–in wine communication.

Knowles came out of Jazz-trumpet–and then worked at Gallo, Taylor, and Beaulieu.