Salvador Dali's Wine Bible

This is a link to read about the recently republished Wine Bible by Salvador Dali, and the illustrations in it are remarkable, terrifying, and related to the world of wine. I'm genuinely not sure what else to say about this, beyond how much it would make a wonderful present for Professor Rapp if she doesn't already own it. I was trying to think of my next blog post and came across the existence of this book and absolutely had to share those photos with you all.

Wine Subjectivity

I found this recent article in Wine Spectator written by a guy named Matt Kramer (not to be confused with the Matt Kremer in our class) in which he argues for the inherent subjectivity of wine being quite reasonable and makes a somewhat compelling case that you should embrace the notion of subjectivity when it comes to assessing quality of something like wine or music, because it's totally plausible that you can't point to an objective argument and yet still perceive a quality difference between items. The math person in me is a bit bothered by the argument (especially given that the end result in the example he highlights actually did come down to an objective fact, just one that was unknown at the point). But, setting that aside, I found the point quite compelling.

It reminded me of a somewhat slightly different (but super related) subject that briefly came in one of the last class sessions when Weids highlighted this question of the existence of an objective idea of "quality" and it's a subject I really struggle to answer but think about a lot when it comes to film.

On the one hand, I recognize that "objective quality" is really difficult to assess because you can't really point to objective metrics as to what makes a great movie, great piece of literature, great song, or great wine exactly. You can highlight attributes that the piece has and note that you generally like those attributes and yet I would contend that (A) Nobody has a specific litmus test of "If X has Y, Z, and A qualities I will perceive it as good" and (B) Two different people (even those both with expert status, whatever that means) will disagree as to level of quality that a work has.

Is Citizen Kane an objectively great movie? Hamlet an objectively great play? Lafite an objectively great wine? If I say no to any of those questions, at least somebody might think I have bad taste or that perhaps my opinion is incorrect. But are varied opinions on these questions always correct for that person? There's an inherent bias where all of us want to say "Absolutely!" to that question and yet I've never met somebody who doesn't sometimes judge another's taste in quality. If I tell you that I truly think a McDonald's Cheeseburger is better than a fine steak, you're likely going to think "Devin has terrible taste in food", not "Devin's opinion is equally valuable and reasonable to mine." I do the same thing all the time with film - Despite claiming to believe that subjective paradigms of quality are equally valid, I can't help but get bothered when people complain about how boring a film is that I think is great, whereas they think Michael Bay's Transformers films are all worth seeing.

It's a difficult line to draw and I tend to try to force a line by noting that any choice of an artistic work being quality is valid as long as the work is truly a piece of art, not simply a capitalist attempt to generate a profit - In that way, I tend to be dismissive of works like Bay's where I can point to the blatant product placement which gets in the way of the film, or could be dismissive of cheap wine which is mass produced. Of course, what I'm doing is arbitrarily self-serving in that I'm pretending I have some magic wand I can wave and say "that's art" and "that's not art" as if that's even objective in and of itself. It's totally cheating giving an actual answer by just giving an answer I want to be the answer. That said, it's the closest I have come to fitting an answer that is in line with how I perceive the world.

I really enjoyed our session last week on the whisky industry, especially when the conversation turned to Balcones Distilling. Balcones is located near my hometown in Waco, TX, so I have been fortunate to follow their story from the very beginning--and even sample their now infamous Single Malt before it exploded in popularity. 

Martin Daraz pressed us on Friday to think about how a distiller can cut through the noise in an increasingly crowded industry. Balcones managed to do it. What lead to their success? Even after some tumultuous times that resulted in the founder being kicked out of his own company, Balcones is a shining success in the craft distilling industry. I think their success boils down to three factors:

1. International recognition. In 2012, Balcones won the "Best in Glass" competition in the UK, competing head to head with established single malts from Scotland and around the world. This moment has often been compared to the 1976 "Judgement of Paris" that put Napa on the map. Overnight, Balcones became backordered for over a year on their single malt and become a must have for whisky connoisseurs. 

2. Consistent quality. From time to time brands are going to win competitions, but I think what happens next is just as important. Whoever spends the money and waits over a year for an expensive craft whisky better be happy with what the get. Thanks to distiller Chip Tate's fanatic push for quality, customers who sampled the Single Malt after the awards found the same high quality spirit that won the competition. 

3. Differentiated products. For a few years, it became nearly impossible for customers to get their hands on the Single Malt, so customers turned to Balcones other whiskys. Balcones offers about a half dozen other varieties and they are not afraid to be bold. One whisky, my personal favorite, the Brimstone, is unbelievably smokier than any other whisky I have ever sampled. When I did a tasting at the distillery last summer, our guide told us that 4/5 people hate it, but for 1/5 people it is their favorite whisky. I am one of the 1/5, and Brimstone has been the whisky I have purchased the last three times I bought a bottle. The lesson here for a craft distiller is to be bold. More sales will be driven if you are 20% of customers #1 choice than if you are just likeable by most drinkers. In an increasingly saturated space, boldness is rewarded.