"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.