Comments on: Everyday vs Hobby

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:37:39 +0000

Winophite,

I agree with you–there is such a thing as “medal creep” as sure as there is such a thing as “score inflation.”

I’ll touch on the subject in my next blog post.

By: winophite

winophite — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:25:23 +0000

I just seem to notice that nearly every winery boasts gold, silver, double gold etc… seems everyone has their winner. I wonder who gives these awards, is there any one group that is known for judging or do wine reps “pick” the judges they want. I know marketing is marketing, but what’s in a medal if everyone has one? Thanks, WP

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:07:34 +0000

Winophite,

My interest is not in telling people what I like, it is in providing information about wine and its industry. When I do recommend I prefer making general recommendations (regions, varietals, etc., and usually with food) over specific product recommendations, to remove any doubt over my allegience.

I have no problem with the fact that consumers share what they discover with one another. In fact, I encourage sharing discoveries as part of the wine experience; I do it too. Plus, consumers have no financial interest in making recommendations–they are neither in the wine business nor do they sell their opinions. That seems like a fairly unbiased group, although any recommendation remains subjective.

Another way for a consumer to explore specific wines is to attend as many tastings as come your way. The more tastings you attend and sign up for, the more invitations to attend you will begin to receive–now there’s a bonus if ever there was one…

I may have a past post on medals and competitions early in the blog’s life, but I can–and will–revisit the subject. Have you specific questions?

By: winophite

winophite — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 14:33:26 +0000

While I agree with you relating to the wine critics ratings of their “great wines”, I do try to find wines mentioned as being good on the wine forum I freqent. While most are hard to find having been cellared for years and now unavailable, I have found and enjoyed a few recommended. How can an inexperienced person choose from the thousands of bottles…if not on a recommendation? Forty bucks is a lot to spend on a crap shoot, 20 is more in my upper range, but finding a recommended 8 buck bottle that I like is the best. Getting to know recs, from the same source and identifying similar likes seems to be a good idea to me. I don’t listen to the rating people or give much credit to the “gold medal” winners, but the few posters I’ve gotten “to know” who post regularly have gained my following. Your opinions are as well in my respect catagory. I’d find recs from you interesting and worthy of a taste as well, (I realise you don’t go there though).
By the way, I’d like to know more about these medal winning games and how much they are worth if you are ever struggling for a topic. Thanks for keeping up the blog! WP