Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/333548
1 1 8 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J u l y - A u g 2 014 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m END POST TYLER COLMAN o t t o o l o n g a g o , c r i t i c s w i e l d e d o u t s i z e d p o w e r in the wine world, s n i f f i n g , s w i r l i n g and spitting out point scores that resulted in sales by the truckload. Palates moving pallets. However, the era of the super- critic is over. The sooner the trade grasps this, the sooner we can turn the page on this era and move on to the next chapter. That's because what started out as consumer pub- lications have slowly morphed, in many cases, into newsletters propped up by the trade. There hasn't been so much of a defenestration of critics as much as they have been hoisted on their own petards – assuming that petard means points, because the scores critics have wielded are decidedly double-edged. During the period of the ascent of scores, they cut a wide swathe for consumers to follow through the world of wine. But soon there were so many critics wielding scores that there was a prolif- eration of the cov- eted 90-plus points. R e t a i l e r s w h o u s e scores in shelf talk- ers, website and e-mail m a r k e t i n g o f t e n p i c k and choose for the highest score available to sell the wine, regardless of who awarded it. The result is a never-ending stream of 90-and-up-point wines pitched to in boxes across the country. Even some of the more estab- lished publications have boosted scores across the board. Blogger W. Blake Gray crunched the num- bers of Antonio Galloni's final Napa Valley report in 2013 for Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and found the median score was 94 points. Parker himself called Bordeaux 2009 "the finest vintage" in his lifetime and handed out 98-100- point scores to 18 wines. Scores have always lacked rigor and car- ried a false sense of precision, but with inflation like this, the central bank of Zimbabwe looks like a model of restraint. Just as grade inflation has pen- etrated the highest realms of aca- deme, wine-score inflation has f l o o d e d t h e m a r k e t p l a c e w i t h 90s and higher. It used to be that 89 points was the dreaded kiss of death from critics, but now it appears if your wines aren't getting at least 94, you'll need more than that to move them. How did it come to pass that wines are seemingly all above aver- age? Point-wielding critics such as Parker have said it's because all wines are getting better. But if that's the case, then there should be an effort to maintain a c u r v e . N o , s o m e t h i n g else is fueling this race to the top. F i r s t , i f a c r i t i c g i v e s t h e h i g h e s t score to a wine, that score will be the one that sticks with the wine for its lifetime, first with distributors and consumers, then in the auc- tion market if it is a collectible wine. That's good marketing for the publisher of the review. Second, point-awarding critics have an incentive to be ecumenical in their views, not sectarian. Could a critic honestly award a high score to a high-alcohol, oaky pinot noir from California, as well as a lower- alcohol, higher-acid red Burgundy? Perhaps. But it's tough since they are utterly different styles of the grape; one either likes the former or the latter. But taking a stand one way or another is divisive, something critics are reluctant to do. This is because it can alienate consumer subscribers who seek to have an external validation for their tastes and/or collections. Perhaps more importantly, it could alienate trade subscribers. Further, many wine newsletters and magazines con- duct events and rely on the trade to contribute wine to these events. Sometimes they benefit charities, but they are also run for profit. In either case, the cost to wineries can be significant; one producer told me he was invited to partici- pate in two events for one publica- tion at a cost of 20,000 euros – plus wine, large format preferred, and sending a winery representative. At the beginning of American wine criticism, there was inspira- tion from Ralph Nader. Now the medium has reached a nadir. It's time to turn the page on scores as well as events with conflicts of interest. Will the trade cut sub- scriptions, samples and slotting fees? Probably not, as the status quo dominates. But for those who want to move beyond points, there are other ways to move those pal- lets now, with key restaurant place- ments and engaging directly with consumers foremost among them. Tyler Colman, author of the wine blog Dr. Vino, teaches wine classes at New York University and the Uni- versity of Chicago, and wrote the book "Wine Politics: How Govern- ments, Environmentalists, Mob- sters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink." Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. (Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Vineyard & Winery Management.) A Critical Time world re s c k hest be an c u e w fir cons 90 POINTS