It was very crowded, no doubt. As I said I struggled repeatedly to get my hands on a spittoon - which admittedly led to a few funny failed attempts at communication with a mouth full of Riesling, a camera in one and a glass and a notebook in the other hand, plus my begging eyes focussed on a spittoon.
So I won't argue with the points you raised, but my personal summary is more positive as the event (despite doing a little too much) introduced me to some interesting wines and reminded me to keep an eye on Australian Riesling (which I sometimes tend to forget). It also was an interesting experience as I had never attended an event like it. However, with the next tasting focussed on a grape variety I know less about than Riesling I would even more appreciate more space and less wines.
You make a very interesting point with your comment: 'These wines show well in a big blind tasting' - is that not a general issue with tasting events? In the same way as IQ tests do not actually show you how intelligent someone is, but how good they are at dealing with IQ tests. For instance, if you want to do wines real justice, shouldn't you taste them over at least two days - or how do you judge wines that really need time to open up? Based on your skill to estimate how much the wine may improve with air? Similarly, not all wines want to be drunk at the same temperature, not even Rieslings, whereas new bottles fresh from the fridge will be colder than those that have been out for longer.
For these and many other reasons I see such events as very different from an in-depth conversation with individual wines. Those general points aside you are right to say that more space would have made much difference.
In reply to Too too many wines by Andrew Connor
Re: Too too many wines
It was very crowded, no doubt. As I said I struggled repeatedly to get my hands on a spittoon - which admittedly led to a few funny failed attempts at communication with a mouth full of Riesling, a camera in one and a glass and a notebook in the other hand, plus my begging eyes focussed on a spittoon.
So I won't argue with the points you raised, but my personal summary is more positive as the event (despite doing a little too much) introduced me to some interesting wines and reminded me to keep an eye on Australian Riesling (which I sometimes tend to forget). It also was an interesting experience as I had never attended an event like it. However, with the next tasting focussed on a grape variety I know less about than Riesling I would even more appreciate more space and less wines.
You make a very interesting point with your comment: 'These wines show well in a big blind tasting' - is that not a general issue with tasting events? In the same way as IQ tests do not actually show you how intelligent someone is, but how good they are at dealing with IQ tests. For instance, if you want to do wines real justice, shouldn't you taste them over at least two days - or how do you judge wines that really need time to open up? Based on your skill to estimate how much the wine may improve with air? Similarly, not all wines want to be drunk at the same temperature, not even Rieslings, whereas new bottles fresh from the fridge will be colder than those that have been out for longer.
For these and many other reasons I see such events as very different from an in-depth conversation with individual wines. Those general points aside you are right to say that more space would have made much difference.