Time to put all the details together and take a stab at determining what’s in your glass…
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We have been following MBT with interest although not up to speed yet on the detail. It will take some practice.
In the current instalment I was interested to see the categories of consumers. I would say our little group is Engaged newcomers/Enthusiastic consumers as although quality is important we are still price sensitive to a degree. We try and use WSET level 3/4 to give some structure to our tastings but end up scoring wines well if we like them. In some cases some wines are seen as good for particular occasions eg BBQs, Summer afternoons etc rather than the “absolute” quality of the wine. This means we have ended up giving many wines similar scores. Discussion this week turned to how we could describe the types of wine to indicate their uses. To this end we are developing the 6Ps protocol as follows:
Poor: usually very cheap. Worth drinking very occasionally so we can appreciate why we are paying a bit more for our wine.
Party: Decent drinkable wines that you can afford to buy in quantity for people who like a reasonable glass of wine in their hand but are probably more interested in talking to everyone else.
Pantry: These are wines kept to hand in the pantry so when you come home from work and fancy a glass or two of wine you can reach for them without having to think too hard. £12 maximum price.
Posh: More expensive, carefully chosen wines for a Saturday night dinner or a particular occasion or time of year. To be drunk for enjoyment and appreciation.
Prestige Pushing the boat out price wise and/or specific wines of interest. To share with friends who appreciate wine.
Pretentious A sub category of the previous three or four categories where the description of the wine tries to convince you it is at least one category higher than it really is and is priced to match.
As you can see these definitions were arrived at the end of an enjoyable tasting session and reflects the fun and enjoyment we get from our hobby. We shall start road testing the classifications this week and see if it improves how we discriminate our wines alongside the WSET classifications.
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Love your categories – and the sound of your tastings. Serious and fun in equal measure.
My only hesitation would be that sometimes you really need/want to drink an amazing wine on a Tuesday night, especially with friends who will share the pleasure. This was a good lesson that Rheinhessen’s Klaus Peter Keller taught me – that you don’t have to have a special occasion to drink a special bottle. (Though I realise your categories are shorthand not literal, and that’s what we need when communicating about wine sometimes.)
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I love these wine categories! Though I do agree with Julia that some Tuesdays are posh wine Tuesdays for no reason other than ‘I feel like it would be nice’. Also, my consumer categories could be taken back to the workshop - I don’t think I’ve met any student who uses the same ones.
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Perhaps we should slightly clarify the posh category to a wine that should be drunk with appreciation at any time? I have fond memories of a rather lovely riesling that cheered up a Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday can always be considered an honorary Saturday 
For the record on Friday we drank a party wine (the rest had gone in the casserole) at lunch and two posh wines and prestige wine ( a rather splendid Gigondas) at the evening tasting. Much good natured discussion ensued! also we may have to increase the price cap on the Pantry wine just a little perhaps by a pound or so.
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