Wine ratings? – Episode #178

February 7, 2007

Wines tasted in this episode:

Links mentioned in todays episode.

American Wine Blog Awards

Wine Ratings what do they mean and how does Gary stack his scores against these 90+ scored wines from the MAJOR press.

167 Responses

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October 25, 2009

John J.
qotd wine making kit. unless that basket has a ‘61 petrus in it.

Gary, one day you should have a vin jaune on.
June 1, 2009

Phredd
QOTD: Wine making kit, no question. I’ve already been looking into it. My whole goal would be to just make a wine that doesn’t suck.
January 2, 2009

Walter A
Gary – great stuff! I recently found your website, and I’m browsing around. Enjoyed the segments on wine tasting and training your palate. This helps me understand tastes and terminology considerably. You explained what’s meant by a “hollow” wine (no midpalate) – my question is: what do you mean by a “flabby” wine?

Of course, I’ve got a bunch of seemingly related questions about terms like “backbone,” “structure,” what you mean when you say a wine is “tight” (or has a tight flavor profile… Are there any episodes where you talk about these kinds of wine terms?

Thanks!
July 26, 2008

Devynne
When you tasted the Hermit Crab, you said that it was a “real wine” and should not be for the kids (21 and older). I’m just a beginner (lets say.. 21) and I am trying to switch up the palate with many different types of wine. Shouldn’t we introduce the more finer wines to the up and coming generation of wine connoisseur’s? What’s so wrong about being young and having a great interest in “real wine”.. I DO take it very seriously.

Putting all that aside, I think this is a Great show! I enjoy watching you critique wines, and learning from you.
April 17, 2008

Sarandi
Hi Gary,

I just started watching your show and I love it. I actually saw the conan episode when it first aired! But now I’m a bit more into food, and am expanding my knowledge about everything culinary, including wine. That said, I bought some nice, fresh, organic broccoli yesterday and really tasted it. It tasted first of grass – nice and clean. After a chewing and swallowing, an overwhelming taste of tobacco was left in my mouth, which is why I’m posting this. You mentioned that one of the wines had an aspect of tobacco on the mid palate, followed by broccoli. Now, I’m not certain as this was the first time I’ve really paid attention – but somehow I think broccoli has that tobacco-ness in it – not to say that that’s where the flavor came from, as tobacco-taste can be present without the broccoli. What do you think? Do you taste food as you taste wine? Can you build the taste profile of a food with other foods, or have you ever found something you thought you knew as a “building block” to taste of something else? I will continue to expand my palate, and thank you for helping all of us on our quests to taste the world. Or wine, at least.
July 11, 2007

Totte
QotD : Wine basket…

And great that I found you trying the Hermit Crab. IÂ´ve tried a lot of dÂ´Arenbergs lately : Feral Fox Pinot Noir, Stump Jump Red, Stump Jump White, Money Spider Roussanne, Last Ditch Viogner and of course the Hermit Crab, the only one I liked was the Crab and I liked it a lot. Marsanne is my white grape of choice right now.

Cheers

Swedish T

PS. And now weÂ´re friends at facebook DS
February 14, 2007

Vincent
Hey, watch the Consumer Reports stab (you took it back, though!). Ratings / Reviews if done in an empirical and objective way can serve the buying public in a good way (e.g., cars, flat screen TVs, and, yes, even wine)!
February 14, 2007

WirelessWine
Great episode! I say basket….great for the instant gratification!
February 14, 2007

Cellar Rat #1
A Wine Making Kit would make my day. I’m biased having started making kit wine last September. We’ve bottled two whites and five reds and have increased our wine knowledge and appreciation exponentially.
I spent a year working in a tasting room at a local winery and did not learn near as much as what I’m learning with kit wine. Highly recommend kit wine making to anyone who wants to learn about wine.
February 13, 2007

ThomasS
QOTD: a basket of course, what the h*ck would I do with a wine making kit, better a beer making kit then.
So, d’Arenberg, nice you think the same about it as I did: it’s tremendous. We had it blind in a Rhone white tasting … I could not believe that it was NW (so, maybe the NW/OW-prejudices are unescapable). C ya.
February 12, 2007

michael
BIG FAN of d’Arenberg wines…esp. so of Coppermine Road, d’Arry’s Original, Dead Arm, and Laughing Magpie. Great producers of some great (not to mention fun) wines…
Speaking of fun…match a foot long (all the fixings) chili ‘dog w/ Stump Jump (Red). Ahhhh!! Now all that we’re missing is a ‘ball game… LOL.
February 12, 2007

dabo
QOTD – Wine Basket… no contest.
February 11, 2007

johnmaki
wine basket – I keep telling a friend of mine he can’t make wine -
with all that wine to drink, we’d have no time to taste all the other wines out there!
February 11, 2007

TimF
I had the Provenance SB last night and I thought it was very good. Like ginger ale and sprite mixed together.
February 11, 2007

Joanie
Gary, Love your show. QOTD: The wine making kit. Why? Because much of my family and a few friends think grocery store wine is really great. So, I’d rather experiment. Even though I now live in MN where there are few grapes, but a truck load of apples, rhubarb and cranberries. Hmmmm. I better re-think the QOTD.
February 11, 2007

Randy B
Gary,

You continue to impress. RE: QOTD definetly a wine making kit. This is a great lead-in to an idea I have, why don’t you do a show on homemade wines? What a hoot it would be to do your thing on the top four wines you received. You could restrict the wines to those made with fresh grapes (sorry no kits) and further limit entries to producers of 100 gallons or less. You want to experience the efforts of the true garage home winemaker who crushed the grapes by hand (or feet). Just a thought…

Ciao
February 10, 2007

Gatorfan
Great show, as always. As an economist, I’m very interested in the effect of ratings on wine sales, but it’s difficult to find sales data since most wineries are privately held. Basically, since wine is an experience good, there’s an information asymmetry between the wine buyer and wine seller. People use the ratings as a way to gauge the quality of the product before they purchase it.

Is the difference between an 89 and 90 that dramatic?

QOTD: definitely a wine making kit!
February 10, 2007

TheRP
Ok, I’ve watched a few shows and now I’ll be a Lurker No Longer (LNL?). Great stuff Gary!

I think your premise is right on (Drink what you like) but I would have to say that wine ratings do play a pretty important role. With SO much wine out there it is really hard as a consumer to know what to try these days. Tasting notes are really only worthwhile if you have found a critic with a similar palate to yours that you trust (and in that case if you are trusting their tasting notes, why not also use their score as a guide?). Finding a local wine shop and finding someone you can trust there would be great but sometimes you have to go on other’s recommendations.

I wish I could taste more wines and be able to just trust my palate but when I’m in a wine store with 400 bottles to choose from, 75% of the time I’d rather either go with a staff recommendation or a wine that received decent scores rather than closing my eyes and rolling the dice. (That other 25% of the time can be pretty fun, though).

RP
February 9, 2007

Patt
QOTD: Wine Basket, with the proper food pairing, of course!
February 9, 2007

Patt
Mar-kee Philips not Marky Philips as you pronounced it, right?
February 9, 2007

RieZin
Defintely basket. I’m more qualified for drinking than producing. Did you get a final tally?
February 9, 2007

Metal Dave
QOTD:

Wine Basket
February 9, 2007

Slick Nick
QOTD: Wine basket.. since I just bought a wine making kit!!
February 9, 2007

Matty Matt
I totally agree on trusting your own taste and not that of critics. Just last night I had a bottle of zin that WS scored an 82 but I thought it was more of a 87-88 type wine. And for the price it was a great bottle, and if I had known the score before hand I doubt I would have bought it.

That being said scores are a great place to start when looking for new wines or exploring new varietals/regions. Are the scores really any different than asking the guy at the wine shop for advice?

QOTD – The basket. Not sure where I could grow wine or when I would have the time.
February 8, 2007

Miguelo DiMarco
Your right, I took your advice on the Little Valley Cabernet – it was a monumental __________.
-glad I only got 2 bottles.

I’m going to bury the second bottle in my backyard under soil (in the very temperate Sunnyvale clime) and see how this one tastes in a few years. Back to the terroir is goes. . .