The gynecologist syndrome

I hope the gynecologists of the world will forgive me if I use them as an example but, while it may seem inappropriate and a stretch, it is an efficient way for me to make a point. Because of the work they do, gynecologists, like other medical specialists, must view sex in a scientific and medical way. And while in private they may have a passion for sex, on the job they must focus on the health and physical wellbeing of their patients.  The same could be said of wine tasters and the opinions they express given that they are subject to what I call “the gynecologist syndrome” and which involves the detachment and objectivity they must have when exercising their profession. This does not mean that they do not recognize that the subject of their study may be particularly “enticing” but this within the limits established by their profession which demand a certain detachment and objectivity. In other words, those who have a role and are responsible for analysis and conclusions must not get too personally involved and this, in a nutshell, is what differentiates a wine lover from a professional taster. The first are “lovers” and the latter “gynecologists”. I realize this is a stretch but please do not crucify me for it. And the reason why I have written all this is because at the last event organized by the Italian Federation of Independent Winemakers (FIVI) I dramatically fell victim first-hand to this contradiction. As a sensorial analyst, judge and journalist I must maintain a certain detachment but as an old wine lover, which I have always been, I could not help myself from buying a mixed, six-bottle case of Valtellina wines from Ar.pe.pe which, above all in regard to Sassella Rocce Rosse 2007, I found to be simply delicious. And so I discovered that, all things considered, there can be exceptions to the “gynecologist syndrome” which I often suffer. On the positive side, this meant I was still a “lover”, and I hope not just of wine, and I can give myself fully to my new and old passions. What a disaster.