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…
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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…
What the F.A.A. and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate have in common
Ethics scandals are politico porn. They’re also fertile ground for undeserved scapegoating. But there’s one category in which, across the board, there’s not nearly enough public stoning going on: the world of information intermediaries. On the government side, that means regulatory agencies; in the private sector, it’s the critics, the expert witnesses in capitalism’s de Full Article…
Talk at Spain’s FENAVIN: “Critics for sale? Blind Tasting and the Honest Wine Movement”
At FENAVIN, the Spanish wine industry fair, in Ciudad Real on May 15 (blog entry at Aprende a Catar Vino (Spanish); articles about the talk at El Día del Ciudad Real, Cava Argentina, La Comarca de Puertollano, and Vendimia), I will talk talked to the Spanish wine industry on the following topics: 1. Are most wine critics impartial judges of quality, or are Full Article…
The truth behind Wine Spectator’s “significant efforts to verify the facts”
In the course of damage control, Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews and others have made several questionable statements. Although it had been my policy not to respond to them (or to the name-calling–“mugger” has been my favorite), there seems to be enough uninformed debate going on in the blogosphere that I wanted to set Full Article…
What does it take to get a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence?
My name is Robin Goldstein, and I’m the author of a new book called The Wine Trials (book here; website here). Lately, I’ve become curious about how Wine Spectator magazine determines its Awards of Excellence for the world’s best wine restaurants. As part of the research for an academic paper I’m currently working on about Full Article…