A little while ago there was some discussion on the site about blind vs sighted tastings, here and here. Then the other day I was greeted with: “have you heard the latest gossip?” from a wine writer from Johannesburg.
He had been approached by a rather miffed Alan Pick of the well-known Butcher’s Grill in Sandton whose Pick’s Pick Merlot had been awarded two and a half stars in the latest John Platter Guide – while the same wine, in its full livery as Jordan’s Merlot, had received four stars. The allegation is that it is one and the same wine, in which case the sighted nature of the tasting had a very deliterious effect on Pick’s wine.
In the Platter guide, they do announce that this merlot comes from Jordan, so one would have thought they’d cross reference or establish that this was perhaps a separate batch, and not as high in quality… I wonder where the truth lies: if it is the same wine, then this gap in star ratings is alarming.
Meanwhile, I have just written up the “chef’s chootout” for Wine Magazine’s Chenin Blanc Challenge, the results due in late January edition. We tasted the winning wine and both fellow judge Pete Goffe-Wood and myself were quite mystified as to its winning status – at least on current form. It showed as a very short and rather flat wine. But I will likely have to eat my words…
With so many wines to review and rate, one has to allow the Platters panel a small margin for error. the ratings are based on subjective human judgments and therefore mistakes can happen.
Now that is being lenient. The real issues I have is the lack of consistency across awards and ratings – surely if a wine is good, it will receive above average ratings across all awards. this is most definitely not the case – for the judges are all different, chaired by different people, with different ideals and influences – the results therefore are subjective.
While the knowledge of professional collective minds is indeed powerful and helpful to a degree, I find it hard to buy into.
I have always wondered how gymnastics or synchronized swimming could ever be deemed an Olympic sport – there is never and actual and clear winner – the winner is based on subjective ratings. The same applies to wine and perhaps its time for the emergence through blogging etc to let the people do the ratings.
Blind vs Sighted – well research shows that when conducting sighted tastings, the actual intrinsic values of the wine count for more or less 5% of the value judgment. Hard facts to swallow if you ask me.
Hard acts to swallow indeed – because they are not matter of the mouth, but the eye!