Comparing the wine tasting notes of Jancis Robinson and Terry Theise: A stylistic analysis

This paper offers a stylistic analysis of the tasting notes (TNs) of wine writers Jancis Robinson and Terry Theise. We define linguistic style as those distinctive, consistent, and creative linguistic choices writers make beyond what is conventionally expected in a TN, which are only discernible by comparison to other wine reviewers. Using a corpus of Robinson’s and Theise’s TNs on German and Austrian wines 2012, we compare their TNs in terms of rhetorical and grammatical structure, use of descriptors, and other evaluative language. Robinson’s elliptical note-form style is characterized by adherence to canonical rhetorical structure, verbless clauses, extensive use of conventional metaphoric descriptors and limited use of object descriptors. Theise has an effusive, people-centered additive style characterized by non-conventional rhetorical structure, multiple phrase and clause and coordination, and extensive and exotic use of diverse object descriptors, personification, and intensifier + evaluative adjective phrases. We then connect their varying linguistic styles to their differing approaches to wine tasting.