A few years ago, Wine Folly published a very nice subway-style infographic that characterizes aspects of wine reviews into twelve categories: body, yeast, style, tannin, acidity, alcohol, spice, fruit, flower, herb, oak, and inorganic. I was curious to know whether unsupervised machine learning could learn to create clusters of semantically similar terms. For instance, could it… Continue reading Of lemon peel and sweaty saddles: learning related wine descriptors

In wine, ratings are everything. They drive at least price, sales, and reputation. The state of a winery’s balance sheet might hang on getting a good rating from an influential outfit such as Wine Spectator or Robert Parker. However, perceptions of wine are incredibly subjective; a fantastic Pinotage to me might taste like dirt to… Continue reading Is Robert Parker high? Comparing wine raters

One of wine’s appeal is that you can find a great bottle that you enjoy on any budget. While one can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a wine (so I’ve heard), there are also fantastic wines for under $10. Price is neither a reliable indicator of quality, nor of how much you might… Continue reading What explains the price of wine?