Wine Advocate to start winery consulting service

A new consulting service, "Wine Benchmarking" by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, being launched this fall was introduced to the Colorado wine industry. I've reached out to Editor-in-Chief Lisa Perrotti-Brown and will update this post with more information when/if I get it.

Described in the announcement, the Wine Advocate is providing detailed advice to wineries for $800 per winery. For this fee, wineries will get two of their wines assessed by Wine Advocate reviewers and receive two tickets to a "Wine Benchmarking Seminar" in February 2018. Additional wines for evaluation may be submitted subject to availability and volume pricing is available on request. It appears that the main difference between this evaluation and the normal published evaluation is that wineries will receive personalized notification of where their wines sit qualitatively to their peers. The Wine Advocate reviewers will also provide specific actionable advice that may be taken in the vineyard and winery to address detected shortcomings - as well as possible opportunities for future wine quality enhancement. This information will be provided to wineries in confidential, sealed envelopes after February's seminar.

It would appear to me that this new service may result in a new direction from the fiercely independent critical approach Mr. Parker has espoused for years. However, this publication is Mr. Parker's now in name only. I am all for wineries hiring consultants to help with their businesses, but I don't see how an independent critic can start taking money from those he/she is reviewing and still claim complete separation from the trade. I can't imagine how this statement: "it is imperative that I keep a distance from the trade. While this may be misinterpreted as aloofness, such independence guarantees hard‑hitting, candid, and uninfluenced commentary" remains on the Writers Ethics page on RobertParker.com form much longer.

Don't get me wrong, as a proponent of small regional wineries, I think this could be a great opportunity for wineries to improve their wine quality, improve their scores and increase sales. Yet, shouldn't this kind of feedback be what wine reviews are all about in the first place? I've been advocating that all regional wineries submit wines for critical review to Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator. Critical feedback is very important to the wine industry. So is for-hire consulting services. My personal hunch is Mr. Parker had nothing to do with this. 

Maybe Steve Heimoff was right (I might have lost my mind...)

After giving it a week of thought, I'm going to argue something with which, on the surface, I adamantly disagree. Last week, my digital buddy, Steve Heimoff, wrote a blog post titled, "Saying Goodbye to the Golden Age of Wine Writing." His thesis was that with the rise of the "Age of Digital Information" (i.e., wine blogs) wine writers are finding it more and more difficult to earn a living writing about wine. He claims that the world of wine writing is no longer the utopia it was when he got into this profession and made a name for himself (I'd argue he actually has made his name via his blog and not as the California Editor for Wine Enthusiast Magazine). David White penned a great response to Steve's assertions and claimed that things are actually getting better in the world of wine writing. I wholeheartedly agree with David, but I want to take a deeper look into Steve's post.

John Madden the wine critic...

Football season is finally upon us. For many of you (including me), yesterday was spent parked in front of the TV with a beer in hand. The entire state of Colorado is bursting with anticipation for a Super Bowl run after Peyton Manning and the Broncos thrashed the defending champions on Thursday. However, I grew up in Wisconsin so naturally I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. In fact, ever since 1998 I have actively rooted against the Broncos. If the Broncos aren't going to finish 0-16 this year, I'd like nothing more than to see the Packers beat the Broncos in the Super Bowl in New York. I'd be in a better mood today had the Packers beaten the 49ers, but thinking about a Green Bay Super Bowl victory over the Broncos keeps me smiling.

You may be wondering what football has to do with wine. Bear with me as I get there. Along with the beginning of the NFL season, perhaps the most popular sports video game, Madden 25, was released recently. In the game, every single player is given a numerical rating - from 1 to 100. Sound familiar to wine yet? Thinking about how and why human beings are given such subjective ratings got me thinking about how the video game is like the wine review game. Is Calvin Johnson equivalent to a bottle of 2009 Château Latour (WS 99)? Is Anquan Boldin like a bottle of 2007 Canyon Wind Cellars IV (WS 88)? Which bottle of red blend or which receiver would you rather have had yesterday?

Ben's Bubbly: La Marca Prosecco

Well, we survived our first family bout of the stomach flu. We found out that playing pass the puking baby and then change your clothes is not fun. At least he was feeling better by the time we caught the bug. Three of the four babies at Ben's daycare were out last week and no less than eight other family members of the babes were stricken, too. I'm still not feeling 100% four days later.

In better news, Ben has started pretending to talk on our cell phones. He has always been fascinated by them and wanted to chew on them, but now he will pick up the phone and hold it to his ear and babble. It took me almost twenty one years to get my first cell phone, but I have a feeling I won't be able to keep Ben from getting one of his own for that long. Actually, he already has one as we gave him an old one (sans battery), but he still would rather play with one of ours.

La Marca Prosecco

My run of disappointment with Prosecco continues with this pretty little bottle. The robin's egg blue label is eye catching and as I saw in a liquor store yesterday, the La Marca received 90 points from a major wine publication. I don't do points, but if I did I can tell you that this does not strike me as an outstanding wine. Nice, sure. But definitely not outstanding, or whatever 90 points is supposed to mean these days. It is almost clear in color with only the slightest suggestion of a yellow tint. The nose is equally underwhelming. There is a bit of apple and lemon, but not much else. On the palate, faint flavors of baked apple, banana and a twist of lemon are noticeable for a few brief seconds before your taste buds reset. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this wine, but it is not at all that interesting. 11% abv. Gift $15. Good

The fallacy of the 100-point system revealed

Yesterday, Steve Heimoff assessed the current state of the 2010 California pinot noirs on his blog. Steve said of the 110 or so pinot noirs that he had tasted the scores ranged from 94 "all the way down to a miserable 80." I don't know about you, but to me (and to Steve's employer) a score in the low 80s (80-82) indicates that a wine is an acceptable wine, especially "in casual, less-critical circumstances." I don't consider an 80 a great score, but I wouldn't consider it miserable. Steve's statement reflects what I would consider the core of the score inflation problem. Grade inflation does not mean all scores are going up (as Blake Gray et al. suggest), just that the meaning of scores has changed. In the not so distant past, a grade of a "C" in college was considered an “average” grade. Now, many students believe it means outright failure. I teach at a local university and see this with my students. Every student thinks that they are an "A" student, but in reality few are. I suppose the same is true with wineries. They all think that they produce 90+ point wines, but few actually do. There is nothing wrong with making average wine, but apparently Steve Heimoff thinks that there is. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the problem.

When I commented on the post, Steve replied: " I would not use the word “miserable” in a formal review. But let’s face it, an 80 is interpreted as miserable by just about everyone. So when I comment on my own scores, I can be more descriptive, especially if I don’t identify the wine in question, which I would never do out of respect." So, is Wine Enthusiast’s rating scale a joke because when they rate a wine as acceptable, the editors actually believe it is "miserable?" On the surface, an 80 may seem like an average score, but if the critic doesn't actually believe that an 80-point wine is acceptable, then what is the score really worth.

I understand that Steve probably meant that a score of 80 will not be welcomed by most wineries as being helpful, and he is probably correct. But, if Steve takes wineries' feelings into consideration when he reviews wine how are we supposed to believe what he writes? Steve will apparently write psuedo-nice things about a wine out of respect, but when he doesn't have to identify the wine he can let everyone know that he really thinks it is miserable. This is not really breaking news and most people know that ratings are just a big game wine pundits play, but I’m kind of surprised to hear Steve Heimoff actually admit to the fallacy of the 100-point system. Bravo, Mr. Heimoff!

A new wine rating system...

With all the hubbub surrounding the different wine rating systems and discussion about the extent different factors play a part of them, I’ve decided to create a new system. This system incorporates every aspect of experiencing a wine. This system is a first draft and I urge everyone to please help me renovate and improve the 100-point system. Together, we can make a truly excellent system that will actually mean something! So without any other introduction, here it is:

                                                                                                                             Yes    No
Price:
Did you have any reservations about how much the wine cost?                                -1    +1
Did your significant other need convincing for you to buy the bottle?                        -2    +2
Did your purchase cause you to not be able to buy any other necessity?                  -3    +3
Was the wine free?                                                                                                +4    n/a

Bottle:
Is the bottle made of glass?                                                                                    +1    +1
Does the bottle have a punt?                                                                                  +2    n/a
Is the empty bottle heavier than a full bottle of something cheaper?                          +3    +3
Is the bottle open?                                                                                                 +4    n/a

Label:
Is the label easy to read?                                                                                        +1    -1
Is the label clean and free of any tears?                                                                   +2    -1   
Is the label eye-catching?                                                                                       +3    +2
Is the label counterfeit?                                                                                           -4    +4

Capsule:
Does the bottle have a capsule?                                                                             +1    n/a
Are there signs of seepage?                                                                                    -2    +2
Is the capsule made of tin?                                                                                     +3    +1
Does the capsule match the label?                                                                          +4    -4

Closure:
Does the wine have a cork?                                                                                   +1    +1
Is the cork/closure easy to remove?                                                                       +2    -2
Does the cork/closure come out in one piece?                                                        +3    -1
Does the cork/closure match the label?                                                                  +4    -4

Sight:
Does the liquid look like wine?                                                                              +1    -3
Is a red wine reddish, a rose pinkish and a white wine yellowish?                           +2    -2
Is the wine clear of foreign objects?                                                                      +3    -3
Does the appearance look off?                                                                             -4    +4

Nose:
Are the aromas enticing?                                                                                      +1    -1
Does the wine smell clean?                                                                                  +2    -2
Do certain (positive) aroma characteristics come to mind?                                    +3    -3
Do the aromas make you think about what you smell?                                          +4    -2

Flavors:
Do you sense some mixture of alcohol, acidity, tannin and/or fruit?                        +1    -1
Do the flavors linger in your mouth for at least 15 seconds?                                  +2    -2
Do the flavors make you want to take another sip?                                              +3    -3
Is the wine balanced?                                                                                          +4    -4

Texture:
Is the wine liquid?                                                                                                +1    -3
If the wine is sparkling, does it have bubbles?                                                       +2    -2
If the wine is still, is it free of bubbles?                                                                  +3    -3
Is the wine balanced?                                                                                           +4    -4

Overall impression:
Have you been drinking wine for more than 30 years?                                          +1    -1
Have you ever had a better wine previously?                                                        -2    +2
Would you drink this wine again?                                                                        +3    -3
Do you want to add 4 points just for the hell of it?                                                +4    n/a

Does the wine have attributes that numbers just can't describe?                              *     n/a

Add up your score and you’ve just scored a wine like a professional!        
I’m __ points on that!

For those of you arithmetically inclined, you will notice that the highest that a wine can score in this system is 98* points for a still wine and 97* points for a sparkling. This is of course due to the fact that wines are living entities that can achieve perfection no more than you or I...

Grade inflation

In addition to my wildly successful wine writing career (ha!), I am an adjunct environmental science/geography instructor at area universities. One thing that my students often complain to me about is that I am tough grader.  I am a firm believer that most people are average (myself included). A smaller percentage are above average and a select few are exceptional. Much to the chagrin of my students, this philosophy is reflected in my grading. In a way, I am glad that our American society has taught us to think that we are the best of the best, but only when we strive to achieve excellence instead of simply expecting it. So many students expect to receive "A" grades. It is sad when a "B" is now considered a subpar grade. When did above average become a bad thing? A "C" is the kiss of death to one's GPA.

I am seeing the same grade inflation when it comes to wine scores. Maybe I'm just a grade inflation curmudgeon but I can't stand how many 90+ scores are out there! Now, I am not a believer in points, though I will admit I am intrigued and perhaps easily departed with my money when I see a high (94+) score. For this reason, amongst others, I prefer the terms flawed, average, good, very good, exceptional (and perhaps if ever review a transcendental wine I will have to add a new term) instead of numerical ratings. Saying that a wine is good sounds so much better than giving a wine 83 points. I know most people only publish the highest scores so as to not bruise the delicate winery ego by saying, "I'm 74 points on that" (there is nothing wrong with being average, unless you think that you are making amazing wines or you're a salesperson!). I think more lower scores need to be published because you can find a 90+ score for almost any wine (ahem, J. Newman). Perhaps if the public sees lots of low 80s scores for XYZ Winery and only one 93 by Joe Schmoe they might actually be better informed consumers. You don't see school teachers only count and return A-worthy assignments to students! Unfortunately, giving A grades is easier than dealing with the consequences (such as only 77% of students pass the military's enlistment exam).

I think that a big part of the score/James Suckling debate that has picked up in recent weeks (e.g., here, here and here) goes hand in hand with the grade inflation epidemic that has swept through the industry. Such is the power that democratic sites like CellarTracker/GrapeStories offer against the reigning wine dictators. So many people are peeved when Jay Bob Pucklingchuk gives a wine 96 points, but it doesn't match their palate. Perhaps if people read the prose that accompanied the score they might have determined that they in fact don't like blackberry liqueur and vanilla cherry cola in their Riedel. Also, comments on why a grade was earned is much better feedback than just a simple numerical grade. In school, you can figure out which teachers are easy graders and which are the tough ones. While it is nice to get a good grade without working hard, do you actually improve yourself (or I have I been misinformed that is the purpose of education)? I argue that we should seek out those tough graders so that we can actually improve our wine education.