Did you know that modern day wine critics will bump up scores on wines to get notoriety for themselves? It’s a known fact that inflating scores on wines will move the winery to post the name of the critic on their websites as well as putting it on their bottles that go into the retail market. I’m confident that the winery doesn’t really care if the points are inflated, it helps them to sell their wines. One well-known wine critic in particular not only is known for inflating scores, but also charges the winery to send samples. That is ludicrous! Why would any winery pay to send a sample of their wines? It’s bad enough that they don’t charge the critic for the sample. I realize that a high score can move a ton of wine. So, the investment may be worth it to them. However, I would suggest to any winery, that they put some time into promoting their wines from the winery level, instead of depending on some person to rate their wines. In the long run, I feel that this approach would pay higher dividends. Wineries have a tough time with this. Not all of course, but a majority. Well known critics have gotten wealthy on the dependency of wineries for high scores. Personally, I feel privileged to be able to attain samples for review. It’s a responsibility I take very seriously. I grade wines fairly based on how they are made. I do my best to throw subjectivity out and allow objectivity to be the driving force of my decisions. Sometimes it’s painful to give a wine a low grade, especially if I know the winemaker. However, I am all about the consumer, helping them to spend their wine dollars wisely.
Speaking of high scores, most of you know that I loath the one-hundred-point scoring system for wine. Think about it. The only scores you see are between 84 and 100 points, at least in general. That’s a sixteen point spread. All other scores are thrown out the window, so to speak. Why not just make it a twenty-point system… 1-20, with 20 being the best score. It’s because, having a 100-point score on a wine sounds so awesome! Of course, Robert Parker Jr. made the 100-point system famous and it stuck. I use a grading system which works just fine for me. Joe Roberts of One Wine Dude fame is the one that introduced this approach to me. I like it. It’s simple and effective. I can still remember how excited I was to see As on my report card. It meant that I nailed that class! So, if I give a wine an A grade, it means the winery got it right. I will even go as far as giving a wine an A+ if I feel it went above and beyond what anyone might expect who tastes it. The grading system has thirteen possible outcomes. F, meaning failed. D-, D, D+, C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+. It’s one of the best systems I’ve seen for rating wines and it’s one I will continue to use both here and on my YouTube channel.
My recent episode on YouTube, pits Spanish Albarino against Albarino from Washington State. I hope you get a chance to watch it, the results blew me away! Its is done in the blind format, which is always fun to watch. Albarino is a hot ticket in the store, something that has been trending now for a couple of years. I always wonder what it is that moves people to start being interested in a particular varietal like Albarino. It’s probable due to the popularity of Paella which is a really good pairing with Albarino. It’s also been featured in a lot of food and wine periodicals. Whatever the reason, I am always stoked when people are willing to stretch their palate horizons.
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
