The Wine Critic Fact Or Fiction, Should You Listen Or Not?

 
    How much importance does (or should) the latest, greatest or hottest wine reviewer have in influencing which wines you choose to purchase and drink? Throughout this article I ask you to keep an open mind and be honest with yourself. If "the great" Robert Parker loves a particular wine does that dictate that you will go out and buy that wine simply based on his recommendation? Will you also than automatically tell all your friends that you love that wine simply based on the fact that the "great" Robert Parker loves it and that you are a nobody when it comes to his greatness in the wine industry? Are you what I call a wine groupie? How many times have we all read a wine review and the so called professional or "Sommelier" uses words to describe the wine that no one in the world has ever tasted or can begin to understand. Here are some examples of what I mean. Have you ever read a wine review and the writer describes the wine like "this wine has a note of Graphite" or how about "this wine has the wonderful taste of Acetone". Now, I have to ask you folks. Have you ever tasted "Graphite" What normal person has ever tasted Acetone? By the way Graphite is a form of carbon that occurs as a mineral in some rocks and Acetone is typically used for cleaning purposes in the laboratory. What does exactly does "earthy" taste like or for that matter who has ever tasted the earth? Have you yourself ever tasted any part of the earth? Do you guys have any friends that have tasted the "earth" and if so, exactly what does the "earth" actually have a taste? How about "Pencil Lead" or "Old Saddle Leather"? Is there anyone who is reading this article who has ever ever actually tasted any of these things and if so I would really like to know, why? Why then do we listen to or even care what these so called wine experts who use these descriptive phrases or words think or believe? Do we simply believe that because they write for a prestigious wine magazine or website that they have ever actually tasted these things themselves? How much of our wine liking is actually taken from or because of what these so called wine experts say they like? Are we as layman even allowed to like a wine simply because we, well, just.....like it? Is it even permissible for us to have an opinion of a wine at all or are we locked into believing simply because the so called experts like a particular wine that we therefore must like it or else we don't know what good wine tastes like and our thoughts should be dismissed as "uneducated" or "ignorant"? There are a lot of questions that I think need to be looked at and answered if we are going to determine with sound judgement whether to follow anyone at all and if we do, exactly who we should follow in picking out our wines or who should have that much power over what wine we choose for ourselves. Well then you ask, Desert Wine Guy what good are you? These are all great questions, read on and hopefully you'll find some common sense answers to them.

   Let's begin here with why I wrote this article. I first thought about doing this article when I did my review (https://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-desert-wine-guy-2012-columbia-crest.html) of the 2012 Columbia Crest, Grand Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. I had heard so much about the 2012 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon that was rated by a so called wine expert in a hugely popular wine magazine at 92 points that I wanted to review the NON H3 first. Every magazine that I would read I would see awesome scores for the H3 and so I figured that I had to see what the NON H3 was all about first. When I saw the particular wine (NON H3) at the store it was around $10 so I figured this was as good a time as any to pick up a bottle. Being what some would label a non- professional I figured why not, I was going to first step out and tell my feelings about the little Brother of the H3 which is the 2012 Columbia Crest, Grand Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This "little Brother" had a rating of 88 and 90 points in two prestigious wine magazines. After reading my review of the wine you will see that I gave it more than 88 or 90 points because I really liked it. After this review I did perform a review of the H3. I knew after I tasted the wine that I was going to be going against the professionals by stating in my review that the wine was simply so so and that I was not impressed at all. I stepped out because I myself have no reason or motivation to not tell the truth and would never put myself in a position to have to lie to you or anyone anyway. I have too much respect for myself and my fans who might look to me for their next wine. So step out I did and my review was how I felt the wine stood up for it's varietal (in this case Cabernet Sauvignon) which was that it didn't stand up very well at all. Because I also read wine reviews I went into the review thinking that my review would be a slam dunk, easy review and that I would be simply confirming what the so called experts said, I headed to my Loft and began my review. Well, as I said, I have done the review on this wine and I ended up being surprised and very disappointed when I discovered that in my opinion the wine rated a mere 85 points on The Desert Wine Guy point rating scale.  Later after my review I did some further research on the H3 from the so called "regular people" and I discovered that those reviews are rather mixed indeed with a lot saying that the wine was just really average and was overly sweet.

Wine Critic Robert Parker

   So is there anyone that you can follow? I say yes, there is. Hold on now Desert Wine Guy, you say that I am talking out of both sides of my mouth. Do we follow and believe wine reviewers or not? Well let me first explain what I mean with all this and then you can decide for yourself whether to trust or not trust someone who reviews wine. Let's use me as an example here. If I loved a wine as much as I did say for instance the 2011 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) and I justify in detail exactly why I love it, for instance I talk about superb Tannins or the luscious mouth feel or even the way the wine looks in the glass and how the Bouquet impressed and these things are important to you in a wine then you might get a sense of wanting to at least possibly read on further in my review. After my review you might determine that the characteristics of the wine are the same characteristics that you look for in a wine so you might try it simply because I liked it. Now, you go ahead and buy and love the wine, now you could say that you might reasonably follow me at least on that particular varietal. You might say that this is what I do now with the so called professionals. While you are right to an extent, please allow me to go on. You might say that since we agree on what the characteristics that the particular varietal should have O.K self "I am going to look a little further into the wines that this Desert Wine Guy likes in this varietal a little further, lets see what other Cabernet Sauvignons he likes." You might be safe in that thinking because of previous experience you have had where my preferences for that particular varietal match yours. The next time I review a Cabernet Sauvignon you might have a little more faith in yourself possibly liking that wine and be more comfortable that you are going to feel the same way about the wine that I reviewed, whether I liked it or not. You might then with a reasonable amount of certainty either buy or on the other hand not buy a particular wine based on my review. This by the way is one of the reasons that I write as I am not a writer by trade if you haven't been able to tell :) Not meaning to get off track here but I feel the following bit of information is important. I think this is also a good lesson about life here. Do you in general, like something, someone or hold a belief or idea simply because you like the person who told you something or they are popular? There are professionals in other areas such as Dave Matthews, Nicki Minaj or Drew Barrymore to name just a few who have thrown their names on a bottle of wine and because consumers like that particular person in their original field, they automatically assume they will love the wine simply because their favorite actor or actresses put their name is on it. It doesn't matter if that particular person has never even stepped foot in a Vineyard in their life. I would hope that we all think for ourselves and support what we think (most of the time) by having sound reasons why we like a certain product or think a certain way. O.K I'm off my soapbox now. With all this talk about a so called "professional wine reviewer", what is a professional wine taster anyway?
   A professional wine reviewer is someone who gets paid to taste wine. That "gets paid" could come in many forms and could also mean accepting free samples to review (perhaps I am a professional wine reviewer after all). A professional wine reviewer might also be what some might call a Sommelier. A Sommelier is someone who has studied everything there is to know about wine. They have taken tests and have supposedly earned the title. These are so called "experts" in the field of wine who specialize in all aspects of wine service as well as wine pairing. The Sommelier is equal to the Chef De Cuisine when it comes to food. There is also a certification process that must be taken and the basic education for the title can cost anywhere between $800-$4000. There are also different levels of the degree of Sommelier that are available. That sounds simple, right? While these people might be extremely technically more "qualified"to rate wine than I am, we all still find ourselves with the same problem we began with, that problem is that being a Sommelier does not mean that they people have the same taste in wine that you do. There are famous Sommeliers who have been fooled in the past such as the famous Robert Parker (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis) with whom I have disagreed with many times when it comes to wine.You can also check out this article (http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html) which is entitled "The Legendary Study That Embarrassed Wine Experts Across The Globe" and you will begin to rethink following many of the so called "experts". Here is one last one. This (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/09/03/the-jefferson-bottles) is an article I came across where the so called wine experts were fooled (again) BADLY simply in one case by switching bottles.
   Whether you consider me a "professional" wine reviewer or not is up to you and it really doesn't matter whether you do or not but think about this for a minute. What REALLY is (or makes) a "professional" wine reviewer? Honestly folks, your guess is as good as mine. As a wine drinker how does a class on wine tell you me what I like? Let's see now, oh yeah, a wine class, is that where I learn what Acetone, Earth and Saddle Leather taste like? In my opinion, I think a lot of the so called professional wine tasting is by done by people who are already prominent in the wine industry and happened to get lucky enough to get hired (or planted) by the wine industry. I'll just come out and say it guys. The entire wine industry is a business and money talks and (you know what) walks. There I said it. Let me give you a quick example and I want you to think about this for a minute. If BV (https://www.bvwines.com/) wines pays a prominent wine magazine tons of money to advertise in , do you for a moment think that that magazine would do a review saying that a particular wine is terrible? I think not.
    Here is one last question. Can someone have a regular job like me and yet be a professional wine reviewer or does a professional have to strictly do wine reviews or be in the wine industry? I guess that is actually up to you the individual reader to determine for yourselves. Can someone who works for an actual winery, vineyard or wine selling company really ever be subjective when it comes to reviewing a wine that their company made or is paid to promote? My answer would be, not if he or she wants their job for very long. let me put this into perspective. Let's say that I work for ABC Vineyards and I am writing a review on the Cabernet Sauvignon that my company grew, would I tell you not to buy my wine because it was really bad? Yeah, I think not either.
   So there you have it folks, my opinion on the wine reviewer. What I have been trying to say throughout this article is align yourself with someone who has the same likes and dislikes in wines (or other things) as you do. As a wonderful President once said "trust but verify". Don't follow the crowd (on anything) unless you are an investor of futures in wine. At that point you must go on pedigree, you don't have a choice after all it is called "futures" for a reason. With all this being said I can tell you that I will continue my independent reviewing of wine and the wine industry from an unbiased point of view. As I have said many times I have a full time job that I have worked at for the past 25 years and I do not get paid in any way other than a free sample which I am upfront about) to review a wine. If I should get a free sample to review I will continue, as I have done in the past to inform you, my readers of that. One last thing before I go. I don't follow anyone when it comes to me picking out a wine. I truthfully never really put that much effort into what other wine reviewers think or why they think what they do. What attracts me to a wine......well I think I'll leave that for a future article.

                                                                                                           The Desert Wine Guy

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