A question of style vs personal taste: Moppity Shiraz 2009

Moppity Shiraz 2009 (Hilltops, NSW)
13.9%, Screwcap, $28
Source: Sample
www.moppity.com.au

It’s something of a personal conundrum this wine, if purely on the scoring front, but also in the context of personal objectivity.

Put simply, I don’t really like this Shiraz. By that I mean I can’t imagine actually drinking all that much of it and wouldn’t choose too. However – and here is where it gets a little blurry – I know plenty of people who would. That’s not a vague attempt at condescension, but just a straight admission of what I think about the style. It’s a style that I think has plenty of appeal, yet little appeal to me. The challenge, however, is how then to score and how to approach such a wine. Do you mark it down because you don’t like it, or mark it midway and appreciate the stylistic intent?

The thing I’m really trying to grasp is where objectivity ends and subjectivity begins. This whole wine reviewing caper is all about objectivity in premise, yet still utterly subjective in application, with all of our tasting impressions hinged on our own personal wine experiences. Those experiences and approaches can be shaped by others, but it’s still a case of a personal drinking context and personal taste.

Which brings me back to this wine. The problem that I have with it is that it is too polished. Too ripe and round and slippery, too glistening with new oak and fruit sweetness. Too much generosity, Viognier edged richness and not enough structure, Yet I can also see that, like vanilla icecream, sometimes rich, sweet and generous simple flavours are awesome, and that in it’s mode it’s a seriously well made wine, with really high quality fruit. It’s so generous and silky and giving that I think I’m in the minority by proclaiming that I don’t like it. I even sat on the bottle for 3 days to see if I would come around to it’s way of thinking, but in fact it just looked more oaky and sweetened the longer it was open.

In the end I’ve just realised that this wine is not for me, that I’m no fan of Shiraz Viogniers made in this way, and that I need to draw the line in the sand (my sand). The score below then is a low one considering the raw quality behind the wine itself, but the only score that I could say I honestly agree with. 16.3/87

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Andrew Graham Avatar

Andrew Graham was once voted the 23rd most trusted wine critic on the planet. A WCA Journalism Young Gun now old hack with 25yrs as a buyer, judge, journalist, marketer and too much more.

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8 responses to “A question of style vs personal taste: Moppity Shiraz 2009”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    That's fine Andrew (haven't you had trouble with this wine before though?). It may even be that the wine isn't all that great. I don't think I've got tastes vastly different to your own, and I dare say I wouldn't want to drink much of this wine either from your description of it. But I had a Filsell 2008 last weekend, for the second time, and it's in a rich, plush, smooth place that I normally wouldn't like to visit, but I still very much liked it – because it still had genuine character and complexity, and told a story that I was interested in listening to, and so I gave it 93.

    Which is all a roundabout way of saying that a bit of one's personal tastes should come into scoring in my way of thinking, provided you don't go to far with that and give, say, 80 points to a very good Viognier just because you don't like Viognier.

    MichaelC

    Reply
  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    As an addendum: isn't it really impossible to objectively evaluate, and I mean truly objectively evaluate, something that we don't personally like? I'll leave that thought for all the vino-philosophers out there … (!)

    MichaelC

    Reply
  3. Chris Plummer Avatar
    Chris Plummer

    I've been reading this website for a couple of years now and I read it to see what Andrew Graham has to say, not anyone else. In that case, I say call it as you see it AG (as you always do and full credit to you!). Everyone has their own personal likes/dislikes when it comes to wine and yours have been established as clear as day with Australian Wine Review (or at least as I see it). Keep it up!

    p.s. I muchly agree with Michael C; I also give the 2008 Filsell a 93!, which is from a Barossa red vintage that hasn't fully been to my likes…

    Cheers,
    Chris P

    Reply
  4. Red Avatar
    Red

    The issue of objectivity and subjectivity with tasting notes and wine scores is always a vexed and interesting one. I often struggle with lean, modern Oz Chardonnays which are objectively of undoubted quality, but personally often leave me a bit cold.

    Personally AG, I'm all for the contrarian view on a wine. This wine seems to have been highly praised by most, but it's always interesting to read a review that bucks the trend.

    Reply
  5. Julian Avatar
    Julian

    Embrace it all!

    Wine is only interesting, fundamentally only exists as an aethetic experience, when it's being drunk *by someone*. In that sense, what you think of the wine is as important as the wine itself. More precisely, it's the intersection of your taste (or mine, or whoever else's) and the wine that is the most complex and valuable dimension of wine appreciation.

    That's why your writing is interesting; you're not a wine evaluation robot. You have preferences and opinions and you bring those to bear on the wines you taste. Most of the wine writers I enjoy do the same.

    Reply
  6. Tim Wilson Avatar
    Tim Wilson

    I agree. Let us know what you think. Besides which, if you try to rate wines standing in the shoes of the "typical wine consumer" you may be left asking whether that is the 3% that regularly drink a variety of wines and cellar their wines or tannin shy, Sauv Blanc drinking 97 percentile of the population.

    Tim Wilson

    Reply
  7. Sean Mitchell Avatar
    Sean Mitchell

    Interesting thoughts. In response to the question "Do you mark it down because you don't like it, or mark it midway and appreciate the stylistic intent?" the answer must be "yes" to the former. In my humble opinion, the only "truth" of the wine is your subjective perception of it. Anything else is a guess.

    Regards
    Sean

    Reply
  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Very interesting topic. The line between objectivity and subjectivity is easily blurred, especially when I am tasting wine styles I am not a fan of (Sauv Blanc, Pinot Gris..)
    Taste is indeed very subjective, but I would argue you can acknowledge a wine is very good without liking it as such. In typical fashion for me, there is a similar musical analogy: I am not a fan of the band Radiohead's output following their 1997 album OkComputer. Their subsequent albums have been universally praised and I can objectively acknowledge that these albums are indeed groundbreaking and high quality…..but I do not like to listen to them, or definitely not as much as previous albums!

    Same goes with wine where a super ripe or super lean trophy winner is clearly in a certain style and is made to perfection: I can acknowledge its quality but I would rather tuck into a glass of something else.

    Jeremy Oliver seems to me to be another critic who unashamedly calls it like he sees it. You need to decipher/ get a relativise his notes to get a feel for a wine, so strident is he in his preferences. This is not a bad thing per se – an 87 'cooked, baked, dead fruit' Shiraz would be considered ripe, if not slightly overripe by many, so you adjust to this. On the flip side he loves Riesling and it is always interesting to try a Riz he has rated highly.

    The Australian Wine Review/AG calls it like he sees it – it is something I like about the website.

    RB

    Reply

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