Tolerable defects

Wine can have small defects, tolerable imperfections in regard to our personal tastes. However, these must not become an excuse to be right no matter what.

Perfection is boring. The golden ratio was fine for the time of Phidias and in some neoclassical works but the Beato Angelico, Pietro della Francesca and Caravaggio went far beyond this. Then there are the Impressionists, Cubists, Surrealists and the Transavanguardia. All were branded as being “imprecise” and “imperfect”, as if the Sunflowers of Van Gogh needed to be perfect to be considered one of the greatest artworks ever. And then, have you ever fallen in love with a perfect person or was it their imperfections that seduced you? Thus if we understand, tolerate, admire and even fall in love with the imperfections of many things and people, why should wines be any different? For sure, there exist small defects, within limits, tolerated imperfections in many wines. A DoctorWine reader, Maurizio Manna, put it brilliantly: “one thing is the first, embarrassing whiff of a Valentini Montepulciano and another is a wine that smells”. So true.

One has to do with character, personality, the chiaroscuro that compose complexity, while the other is evidence of technical shortcomings that result in a defect that only few taste extremists would accept. It all boils down to personal taste and it is tied to how much we are ready to love an imperfection and what kinds of imperfections we love. And this is different for each of us and depends on a host of factors. These include personal convictions that include, for example, preferring a wine that is less pleasing but made in an eco-sustainable way and perhaps is less harmful to one’s health. Then there is an esthetic sense in regard to flavor, something that is based on the quantity and quality of wines we have tasted and are familiar with. Another factor is a mentality to try something new and off the beaten track. This not to mention the desire to rediscover lost or idealized sensations that bring back to days gone by. All these are comprehensible factors in determining what is acceptable.

The only thing that I would dare to suggest is to avoid allowing all this to become a fad. One should not adopt a position just to respond to a need to be original at all costs, such an individualism is a bit childish and egocentric, especially if it leads to criticizing what the majority considers to be better or preferable. And this because one considers themselves to know more than anyone else and that their taste preferences are the better ones, even when appreciating or pretending to appreciate wines that many would turn up their noses to.