Review Process
"Writers about wine should, at least on occasion, be troublesome, irritating and critical.” ~ Andrew Jefford
The Review Process:
From a casual observer's point of view, it's a commonly held belief that price influences judgment; but not in our book. We believe soul, substance and the quality to price ratio is the critical factor of influence for determining the overall merit of any wine in the review process.
All the wines chosen for the review process; are evaluated in a similar vein as any "consumer" would, after purchasing a bottle to take home. The process looks something like this: uncork the wine an hour before a meal, it's decanted if needed, swirl, sniff, sip, write notes, the sample is often part of a prepared meal, we write descriptors, swirl, sniff and sip a bit more after the meal, and then write the final notes.
Samples:
Moving forward this blog will only accept 'samples' the editorial staff deems appropriate for the review process. If you'd like to send us a sample (see full Sample Policy) that you wish to have reviewed, please contact us cuveecornerwineblog@gmail.com thank you. The entire process may take longer than desired, please indicate with any sample sent that an expedited timeline is needed or desired.
Trade Events:
The CCWB will continue to attend a variety of trade events, where we swoosh, swish, slurp and spit quickly; then some quick notes are written, and observations are noted. This process affords the CCWB team to get an immediate impression of 'finished' wines, measuring its overall quality and characteristics; this fact is pointed out in each review. Trade events afford the opportunity to sample a large variety of new vintages, from many different wine growing areas around the world.
Straight Shooters:
Every bottle of wine purchased, every swirl, sniff, and sip imbibed during trade-tastings or other informal settings is judged on its own merits. Unlike some "publications" wine reviews on the CCWB take QPR, [Quality Price Ratio] into consideration, we report the results as is, with no spin, no hype, and no guile.
No Review:
The sad but honest truth, neither me or the team of contributors who share this space have the time to write a review of every wine submitted. Some wines just don't merit the time or attention necessary to write an article. If there's no 'good' word to be found, then it's sometimes best left unsaid. But we do reserve the right to take some wines to 'task' if we believe it's a necessary editorial decision.
Wine Subjectivity: The CCWB will continue to attend a variety of trade events, where we swoosh, swish, slurp and spit quickly; then some quick notes are written, and observations are noted. This process affords the CCWB team to get an immediate impression of 'finished' wines, measuring its overall quality and characteristics; this fact is pointed out in each review. Trade events afford the opportunity to sample a large variety of new vintages, from many different wine growing areas around the world.
Straight Shooters:
Every bottle of wine purchased, every swirl, sniff, and sip imbibed during trade-tastings or other informal settings is judged on its own merits. Unlike some "publications" wine reviews on the CCWB take QPR, [Quality Price Ratio] into consideration, we report the results as is, with no spin, no hype, and no guile.
No Review:
The sad but honest truth, neither me or the team of contributors who share this space have the time to write a review of every wine submitted. Some wines just don't merit the time or attention necessary to write an article. If there's no 'good' word to be found, then it's sometimes best left unsaid. But we do reserve the right to take some wines to 'task' if we believe it's a necessary editorial decision.
Is all wine created equal? That's is a good question, and one many writers' wrestles with how to approach in their articles. Here the basic idea, let each wine compete on its own merits and let the chips fall where they may, that's the reasonable thing to do.
Palate Progression:
It's our opinion that it takes time to build a palate. It's an idea, by the way, which is shared by many of our colleagues in the wine writing world. We like to think of this philosophy as the "taste-muscle," hello 750ml curls. Seriously though, it is gained through regular tastings, the exploring new wines, new wine-regions, and education. Over the years, the Cuvée Corner Wine Blog has come to one necessary conclusion; that while all 'humans' are created equal, not all wines are created equal.
That being said, some wines are just 'plonk,' while others can only be described as sublime. Here at the CCWB, we believe that price is not always a determining factor, but balance, depth, and a soul is an excellent place to start. We believe this is a fair statement to make and it's right to suggest it's so, we concur that reasonably objective and authentic wine writing demands it.
Full Disclosure:
In the interest of full disclosure, we do make mention in the review of how the wine(s) in question, may have been encountered and reviewed in each article. If it's a sample, we say so, if it was a trade tasting we indicate that and if it was purchased bottle that will be mentioned as well.
Reviews will appear on the Cuvée Corner Wine Blog and may also 'appear' on the following social media platforms, such as, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and the article will be posted on Twitter for nearly 23,000 vino-sapiens, who incidentally are mostly cork-dorks, wine-biz folks, PR Hacks etc. where it will have significant exposure across many different social media platforms.