Fake Restaurant Wins Real Wine Spectator Award For Fake Wine List (Real Laughter Ensues)

Posted 08/27/2008 at 07:02 AM by Mari

I’ve been critical of Wine Spectator in the past.  I think a lot of their ratings are bogus and based more on advertising, sample submissions, and relationships than the juice in the bottle.

Now I have an entirely new justification to roll a cynical eye at arguably the most influential wine publication in print.  In this edition (August 2008) they awarded their prestigious Wine Spectator Award of Excellence to a fake wine list housed at a fake restaurant, facetiously called Osteria L'Intrepido (a play on the name of a restaurant guide series the prankster founded) The more hysterical part of the story is that their prestigious “Reserve List” of wines was filled with wines that were deemed “unacceptable” and “disappointing” wines.  A sample:

AMARONE CLASSICO 1998 (Veneto) Tedeschi
Wine Spectator rating: 65 points. “…Not clean. Stale black licorice…” 

AMARONE CLASSICO “LA FABRISERIA” 1998 (Veneto) Tedeschi
Wine Spectator rating: 60 points. “…Unacceptable. Sweet and cloying. Smells like bug spray…” 

AMARONE CLASSICO “GIOÉ” 1993 S. Sofia
Wine Spectator rating: 69 points. “…Just too much paint thinner and nail varnish character…”

CABERNET SAUVIGNON “I FOSSARETTI” 1995 (Piemonte) Poderi Bertelli
Wine Spectator rating: 58 points. “Something wrong here. Of four samples provided, two were dark in color, but tasted metallic and odd…”

The hero of this story and architect of this prank is British author, Robin Goldstein, co-writer of The Wine Trials Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings.   He’s getting my $10.17 for the book on principle alone.

Cheers to you, Robin!

VV

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