You know or at least have heard of the Wine Spectator. A sizable magazine that prides itself on rankings of wine on a 100 point scale. You either subscribe to the magazine or at least have seen local retailers hang a card with the WS score on the wine rack or list it on the wine menu at a restaurant. I admit, I have “trusted” this scoring system when looking for new wines to try. Sometimes, that’s all you have to go on when you are in the store or at the restaurant because the help is actually no help. But, then again, nothing is better than your own palette when it comes to evaluating wine you like. And your palette isn’t swayed by prestige or by money, generally. It just knows what it likes and it tells your brain and you enjoy the experience or not. Enough said.
To further muddy the waters of whether you should trust or use the WS scoring system in helping you find a wine you will like, check out this story about a guy who submitted a fake restaurant with a fake wine list to the Wine Spectator. As a result, he was given the WS Award of Excellence. As you will see in the article, it appears no real due diligence was exercised in evaluating this “restaurant” and questions WS real motivation in evaluating restaurants and their wine lists. What then does that say about their individual wine scoring?
What also piqued my interest is the book the article author, Robin Goldstein, has written called “100 Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings.” The title caught my eye and I’ll be reading it soon. Surely, this guy wants to make a buck as well, but for $10 I might give this guy a shot at guiding me towards some real value wines vs. the old standard, who may have just lost some credibility with us everyday wine drinkers.
