As I write this, I'm freshly back from judging at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, at which the 60 or so judges ripping through 4,763 wines over four days made liberal use of the word "balance" (or the alleged lack of it) as a prized descriptor. But what exactly does balance mean? Is it an objective descriptor, like "high acidity," or is it inevitably a subjective judgment, more like "delicious?"

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