What is BLIC?

It is Balance - Length - Intensity - Complexity.  Considered a way of judging wine quality.

Balance is all the aspects of the wine are at more or less the same level (or not!).  Sometimes balance can be way out and the wine is still lovely. I recently read an article on line that argued that balance is not necessarily all that important. However, there is a strong argument that balance makes wine more drinkable, because if it is too (acidic/tannic/alcoholic/what-have-you) that becomes tiresome as you drink it.  Also, I recently had a bottle of Californian organic rose that will remain nameless for now, that had lovely subtle strawberry fruit that was totally dominated by the high alcohol level (possibly partly due to shoddy wine-making) that dominated the taste and as the bottle went down it became less pleasant.  So balance might be important, but you be the judge.  It is your experience and it is your money that has bought the wine.  To judge the balance, look back on how you scored the aspect of the taste, and the more they are at a similar level, the better the balance.

Length is the time that the flavours hang around when you take a drink.  Surely a wine that has more length delivers far better value for money than a wine that is pleasant for a few seconds and then is gone.  If I taste a wine with good length, then I think that the producers have given me something special.  You don't necessarily have to spend a fortune to get excellent length.  There is an Italian red and Chilean white that I will tell you about some time soon that have great length at nine quid a bottle.  I would encourage you to think about length next time you have a drink.  If you drink wine for the taste rather than just to dull the pain of existence, then this is an important factor for you to consider the REAL value for money your bottle is giving you.  Just a reminder, exclude the sensations of alcohol and tannin when considering the length.  It is the flavours that you are looking for.

Intensity is the strength of the flavour.  I do like intense flavours but I like subtlety, too.   For example, if you get a French Sauvignon Blanc, and put it next to a Marlborough (NZ) SB, the intensity of the latter would be far greater than the former, that are typically more restrained.  But who is to say that your bottle from Marlborough is better than a Pouilly Fume or Sancerre?  So intensity is an observation but not necessarily a sign of quality or superiority.  Otherwise Sancerre would not be considered as a beautiful wine.  Which in my experience, it is.  Saying that, it seems that NZ Sauvignon Blanc is all the rage, and for good reason.  A good Marlborough can be a faceful of aroma and taste, and a very exciting drink.

Complexity - this is what makes wine interesting.  I had the thrill of trying a Chateau Laroque 2010 recently that gave me so many different aspects of flavour and aromas that made my head spin.  It was totally thrilling.  On the other hand, I tried a merlot (that admittedly was a third of the price), which was a young and straightforward red, fine in the right context and nothing wrong with it, by comparison it was not very exciting.

If you score each of these out of ten, it can help you consider the wine's quality objectively.  It can also help you decide why you like/don't like a wine.