(Winemag) - Lightness and transparency in wine have become essential to me. Not in formally rating and reviewing, where anything does and should go, but on a personal level.

Indeed, in my professional capacity as a wine reviewer, I use my training, memory, experience and judgement to score a wine. I look for balance, intensity and purity, and if these are appropriately met, the score will be high, regardless of style. My job is to judge quality and describe wine accurately.

But tasting and drinking are fundamentally different.

When it comes to sipping rather than spitting, I crave lightness and transparency, and I do not mean pours that are puny and thin.