12/19/11: The first lot to go HOT, it is also the first lot to receive a bid at the reserve....
Featured columnist, W. Blake Gray, discusses the disconnect between writers and the public, why consumers don't care about food and wine pairings, and winery economics amid 10 things he's learned in the wine business.
I noticed my fingers on the other side, through the wine. I smiled. We were smelling roses, with no obstacles to blacken the countryside.
Jayson Woodbridge and Bill Harlan will join forces to create a wine so boutique and so exclusive that only one bottle is produced from the over 2000 acres of premium Cab devoted to its production. It will cost 8 trillion dollars and be purchased by Kim Jong Il. Wine Spectator will give in 93 points. Robert Parker will give it 108 points. Wine Enthusiast will not get any.
A few weeks ago, we asked Palate Press readers to tell us how they felt about rating systems. Did they prefer the 100-point system, stars, or badges? Or would they rather have no ratings at all? The result?
As we drove slowly around the estate, passing the old 17th Century pigeon house that stood as a portent of what had brought me to Château Lagrézette, I took a good look around me and thought that this was a truly magnificent place: the 16th Century Château, with its four round towers and elegant shape, the woods that surround it, the location, everything was pretty much picture perfect.
What do you do if another vintage is as good as "The Perfect Vintage," if you are butting up against the ceiling of your 100-point system, perfection having been achieved, and then nature and winemakers do it again or, heaven forbid, surpass "perfection?" You add an asterisk.
Ultimately, those of us who write about wine are looking for the best way to describe an experience that is inherently personal and subjective. Is there anything wrong with using scores to accomplish this? I think this is something each writer has to answer for themselves.