"This wine is great!"

You may have said it before, but what did you really mean when you said it? Can you accurately describe it, paint a mental picture of its greatness in words? What makes a wine great? Or rather, what makes a great wine?

This question is really at the heart of an online discussion over at Eric Asimov's blog (specifically, here and here) between wine writers, makers, and drinkers regarding the use of wine-making technologies such as micro-oxygenation and de-alcoholization. Wine geeks like myself might find it fascinating, but most likely you don't care about what is done to your wine as long as its under 10 bucks and it goes with your steak frites. If you've ever said that a wine is great and you couldn't tell us why, you might be interested to know.

In January I attended a wine tasting and information session at Boston University's Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center. It was mostly a social event for the center to promote their wine classes, but it did feature several panel discussions on various parts of the wine industry, on of which was on the subject of wine writing. It was during this class that I had the good fortune to meet Tyler Balliet and Morgan First, the editors of the new Boston-based wine newspaper The Second Glass.