This question has crossed my mind many times over the last few months. What prompted it was a discussion I had with a good friend of mine who owns a winery and has a heavy hand in the wine making process. He made a trip over to Eastern Washington to drop some wine off at an account and to make a couple of stops at key restaurants and wine shops to leave samples. He was going to be over there for a couple of days, so he dropped some samples at a hotel/restaurant and told the wine buyer that he would be back the following day to see what he thought of the wines. He had success at this establishment before and was quite certain the gentleman would like the wines he had left. The next day, later in the afternoon he went back to the hotel/restaurant and asked if the gentleman had tried  any of the samples. “I did.” He said “And nothing seemed to stand out at all.” Infuriated, the winery owner/winemaker said “What do you mean nothing stood out? What kind of assessment is that?” The wine buyer looked surprised and told him that it wasn’t personal and there was no need to get angry. My friend responded by saying “It is very personal. I put my heart, soul, energy and sweat into every bottle of wine that comes out of my winery, it does not get any more  personal then that!” He turned around and walked out of the establishment determined never to waste another sample there again.
   My friend told me all of this with a grin since it had happened a few weeks prior. But I could tell by the tone of the story that this was a personal issue and it did raise his blood pressure at the time. It got me to thinking... When we as wine critics, wine buyers, or sommelier’s critique a wine, are we taking into consideration the heart and soul that went into that bottle? Granted, there are many volume wine producers out there who are pumping out billions of gallons of wine with no heart and soul. Fred Franzia has made millions of dollars providing wines to the public that are fair too mediocre at best. Heck, Fred even gets lucky at times and hits a home run~.  However, this is not the segment of the wine world I am referring to. Like my aforementioned friend, I am reflecting on those wineries  who have wine makers that have a hands-on approach to each barrel that comes through the winery. This includes at least (And this could be a low-ball estimate) 70% of the wines we see in stores and more then likely 95% of the wines we see on restaurant lists. Each of these winemakers puts a piece of their soul into each bottle of wine and we as critics need to take this  into consideration each time we tip the glass and make a fair assessment of the wine. How much is a piece of someone’s soul worth? I believe one of the best ways to illustrate this would be a teacher in school. How many times does a teacher take into consideration effort when grading a paper, project or physical effort. Sure, the essay may not have been perfect, or the young man may have only done half the pushups that the star student did. Maybe the artwork had quite a few flaws in it. However, when the student puts their heart and soul into the effort, they gave it all they had.... that teacher if they are worth their weight will take that into consideration and give the student a grade that reflects the effort made.
Have we as wine critics gotten to the point where we forgot about the effort? How many of us have been part of the wine making process? Do we know what it takes to produce the finished product? Since we are deeply involved in the wine business, the nuts and bolts of it all, we do have some idea of what it takes. But have we really walked a mile in their shoes?
That being said, my approach to critiquing wine has gone through a metamorphosis of sorts... a slightly more positive twist when it comes to analyzing a wine. It is important, (this is my opinion of course) to ask ourselves a couple of questions before we take that first sniff or taste of the wine. What is the winemaker trying to express in this bottle? What signature is he or she hoping to leave on our palate? If we do not believe that these questions are important, then I believe we have lost the essence of what wine is all about.  
Now this does not mean that I should not give a fair description of the wine. It is my responsibility to help the consumer make a choice as to whether or not they want to purchase the wine under discussion. What does the bouquet show? Is the wine thin or fat? What are the flavors on the palate? Does the wine have a long or short finish? Is the wine rustic or does it have a lot of finesse? Is the wine smooth and seamless or is it slightly disjointed and awkward? You may be thinking that this is a contradiction. If Stan points out that the wine is disjointed and awkward isn’t that being too critical? It is all in how you state it. You can say, “Your beauty makes time stand still.” Or “ Your face stops a clock.” We may have meant the same thing, but who could tell?
Let’s give an example of a positive twist on a wine that is slightly disjointed and awkward.
  “ This red blend has an intense bouquet of blackberries, anise and chocolate. The wine jumps around the palate like a bucking bronco with loads of personality. One minute you get black pepper, the next black raspberry then this then that. Is your palate confused? No, just given a challenge. This finish is interesting with intriguing notes of toasted oak, black pepper and dark cherries blended in chocolate with dashes of celery salt. This wine is not for the timid consumer. If you want an adventure in wine tasting and you are willing to test your olfactory skills, this is the wine for you. “
Some of us may be turned off by this description, whereas many of us might say, “Hey, I would love to give this a try.”  Do you see how the description does not leave you thinking that this wine is not worth trying? What it hopefully does is peak your interest. That it gives you enough information to make an informed decision on your purchase. Yes, the wine was disjointed and awkward... but that is not always a bad thing. Heck, there are people out there that like liver and onions. Gaaack! The thing that can kill a wine in many peoples eye is the score. That good ole’ one hundred point scale. It is a good thing for the critic as they give a bottom line to how they really feel about a wine. But is it necessary to give a terrible score to a wine that the critic does not like. Is the critic taking into consideration the heart and soul, the effort that the wine maker put into that wine before they give it a grade? That being said, I believe it is unlikely that a wine deserves a score below an 84, with the exception of a massed produced wine with no heart and soul. Watch out two buck chuck!
An “84" point wine is worth trying if you like the description. Right? I would try it. Whereas a wine with a score of 80 or below might be right up there with liver and onions in my book. To digress for just a moment I would like to say that even mass produced wines can hit the target and score well with critics. As far as two buck (or three buck) chuck goes, many folks like the wine and that is all that counts no matter how a critic may rate it.
   Taking all of this into consideration, the bottom line is... As a wine critic and writer I vow to from this point on take into consideration the effort;  the heart and soul put into a bottle of wine and do my best to interpret what the winemaker is trying to express in their bottle. Wine critics have their place, and we are there to help buyers make informed choices. However, we should never forget the human element behind the wine.  Stan