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Sounds like...

>>someone wishing to judge in several of the major competitions must be able to demonstrate in a blind tasting that they can detect and identify threshold elements like volatile acidity, TCA taint, brettanomyces, and the like via spiked samples at known concentrations.<<

...the wine folks are ahead of us audio folks in some respects, maybe because in the audio world there are no formal competitions. And though some wine mags may administer tests to prospective reviewers (do they?) I doubt it's very common for folks in the press to be credentialed.

I've got to say that it probably wouldn't be that hard to develop a pretty basic set of "elements" for audio reviewers--jitter levels, broad-band (but low-level) midrange enhancement/depression, rolled off treble, boomy bass...whatever. I suggest that with trepidation, but I suppose that as long as we get to practice first I'd be okay.

What's most interesting about the idea is that none of those things the wine folks are tested for by themselves guarantee that the judge can tell a good wine from a bad one. But they DO show that the pallette is sensitive to the "colorations" common to wine, which is a pretty good start. Beyond that it's all subjective.

One more point, so that folks don't think I'm changing my mind on this. What doesn't work in audio--and I suspect would not work with wine either--is routine, statistically rigorous blind testing/tasting as a means of routinely evaluating wines. There's certainly an important role for blind testing in audio RESEARCH, in trying to determine what really matters for good sound. And there may be a role in it (though this hasn' happened yet) for "credentialing" potential reviewers (and other industry folks).

Just the other day I tried to convince a cable manufacturer I was visiting with to do some blind cable tests in their amazing listening room. The guy I was talking to (not one of the principles but a fairly high-level employee) claimed that you could hear the difference between a decent generic (monster wire or similar) and one of their mid-range twisted-pair constructions "with a boombox." Assuming that's true, there should be no problem proving to folks that cables really DO make a difference. If you can hear the difference with a boombox, surely you can pass a blind test with good gear. They declined.


Maybe my views HAVE changed a little. I'm impressed that the wine folks do so much blind testing, even some of the quantitative kind.

Best,
Jim

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