Sunday, November 4, 2012

Point System Shennanigans

I've spoke about the wine rating system or famously called the "Parker Point Scale" in previous post. I'm not a paid wine critic, so this is just opinion but the recent wave of wines scoring 90+ points that I've been sampling have been utter crap to put it bluntly. The descriptions that are laid out for the masses are so twisted and misconstrued as if meant as fodder for mindless sheep looking for something other than sweet reds or Moscato. Even when sampling the wines to customers, they first read the description and say "no, I don't like full bodied reds as the description says...oh wait this isn't full at all!" like I've said before, you can interpret a wine in many ways as your taste buds are subjective to what you like and what you can relate the sensory workout to. But c'mon some of these recent scores and description are so way off that they are basically pissing on us without having the courtesy to call it rain. Do they think we are all mindless zombies shopping in a post apocalyptic wine store? Sorry, just an epic fail! I drank a 92 point Garnacha last night that cost $8 expecting more than what I got. It baffles me. To each there own. Find an in store wine person that you trust to navigate you towards something good. If they say "Well it's rated 90+ points by blah blah from the Wine blah blah" then veer off the road. Ask them what they've been drinking lately as I'm sure it's something off the beaten path and very interesting. I can't stress enough to form your own opinions about what you taste. You don't have to agree with the critic or reviewer. Going back to that 92 point Garnacha... Honig 2007 Cab scored 92 points and was delicious. How do you compare the two? It's apples and oranges to put those two in the same category or even against other Garnacha scoring more or less! Shenanigans!