Kermit Lynch: Keepin' it real for the rest of us

This is just brilliant!

The Wine Enthusiast Online has this short but oh!-so-sweet interview with Kermit Lynch...
Some of the absolute highlights are:

Wine Enthusiast: As overall interest in wine spreads, is there any advice you wish to impart to the newcomers?

Kermit Lynch: You don’t need an excuse—or a textbook—to drink and enjoy wine. People seem to be getting caught up in acidity levels and so forth. Wines aren’t meant to be studied.

...

WE: What are your thoughts on people who buy by the ratings?

KL: A lot of people are inspired by 100-point wines. I don’t drink wine with any of these people. Most often, I’m drinking inexpensive wines—and not because I have to. First off, at my house, a bottle of wine doesn’t last very long. I can hear the cash register with every sip of a $150 bottle. But if that’s a starting point for some people, then so be it.

...

Unfortunately, there's still that old wives tale being propagated about soil mineral content and the "ability" to taste the soils ("KL: I’ve always been a lover of old white Burgundy. Chablis as well. With many Chablis wines, you can literally taste the domaine—the changes in mineral content of the soil. It’s a thrill....").

I'd like to suggest that the perception of being able to "taste the soils" is largely psychological. Double blind tastings would probably bring that to light, but then again Kermit is "old school", and those lines were likely laid down very early in his wine experience as the prevailing wisdom.

Maybe it's an old-dog-new-trick scenario: hear something often enough early enough in your studies, and it's incredibly hard to toss out later...

Oh , well. He still gets enormous points for the down to earth quotes & attitude he sports!