The Judgment of Princeton seems to be this: who are we to judge? Last Friday, nine judges blind-tasted twenty wines, some from France (mostly expensive) and some from New Jersey (mostly cheap), at the author George Taber’s homage to the 1976 California-vs.-France Judgment of Paris. Of those 20, there was just one bottle for which we—and by “we,” I mean not Full Article…
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New in the Journal of Wine Economics: my book review of Parker’s Wine Bargains
Released today in the new issue of the Journal of Wine Economics is my review of Robert M. Parker, Jr.’s Parker’s Wine Bargains: The World’s Greatest Wine Values Under $25 (Simon & Schuster). The full text of my review is available for free (PDF; begins on p. 209). I also encourage you to subscribe to Full Article…
“Recent Advances in Bullshit Reduction” at the International Food Blogger Conference
My talk at the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle, “Recent Advances in Bullshit Reduction,” along with my panel session and discussion/debate with Robert Schroeder of the Federal Trade Commission and Foodista.com CEO Barnaby Dorfman about the new FTC guide to the disclosure of freebies and financial relationships in blog reviews, will be broadcast live Full Article…
Vote yes on Prop 19, and help start a new conversation about America’s violent War on Drugs
If you’re registered in California, I encourage you to go out today and vote yes on Proposition 19, which will legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis—and take a major step toward treating drug use as a public health issue instead of a crime in America. It is time to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition Full Article…
Counterfeit wine below the radar: the case of Tesco
Britain’s Sun recently reported that supermarket giant Tesco sold two bottles of counterfeit Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé, distributed by Hatch Mansfield, to a customer named Danny McGowan of Clacton, Essex, who described the fake bottle as having a label that “looked photocopied.” Apparently, the bottle was on sale for £5, down from a usual £14.49. (As of this writing, the Pouilly-Fuissé Full Article…
FIFA.com censoring discussion of referee Koman Coulibaly’s nullification of USA goal vs. Slovenia in World Cup
As of this writing, of the 343 comments to have been approved by the moderators on FIFA.com’s “Have Your Say” discussion board about today’s controversial US-Slovenia 2-2 draw in World Cup competition, not one of them contains even a passing mention of the main topic of discussion of every article that has been written about Full Article…
The Beer Trials: a sneak preview
Here’s a sneak preview of The Beer Trials, which I co-authored with Seamus Campbell. The preview (in PDF format) includes a press release, the preface, our list of beer ratings, and a few reviews from the book. The book, due out on April 15 from Fearless Critic Media (distributed by Workman Publishing), rates and reviews 250 Full Article…
When are high wine prices justified?
In wake of some of the latest chatter about The Wine Trials 2010 (this one from Joe Briand, wine buyer for New Orleans’ excellent Link Restaurant Group, e.g. Cochon, Herbsaint, with a response from Wine Spectator executive editor Thomas Matthews), I thought it was time for a quick clarification of first principles here. People have Full Article…
New study suggests that Wine Spectator advertisers get higher ratings
The lead paper in the new issue of the Journal of Wine Economics is a study by Jonathan Reuter arguing that Wine Spectator wine ratings for advertisers were about one point higher than ratings for non-advertisers, when controlled against ratings from Wine Advocate. This is in spite of the magazine’s stated policy of tasting wines Full Article…
Bicycle inflation in paradise?
Portland, Oregon, the current darling of America’s food and environmental writers, is arguably the county’s most bicycle-obsessed city. Bike use was up 28% in Portland between 2007 and 2008, and on the Hawthorne Bridge, a main thoroughfare, bikes now make up 20% of all vehicles. The New York Times estimated in 2007 that there were Full Article…