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Wine Whores Are Making Me Drink Cokeby David Coleman

I recently posted an article on LinkedIn, Is Everything We Know About Wine Wrong?, which

highlighted a study conducted over a number of years to gauge the accuracy and consistency ofwine judges. The results were quite conclusivewine judges arent consistent, which begs thequestion, is our trust in these esteemed sommeliers justified?

Not surprisingly, this created some great discussion from both sides. As entertaining and inter-esting as this was, it also introduced me to some new wine vernacular. Thanks, Bret for my fa-vorites ones, score-whoresand medal-hounds. Bret also pointed out that these wine drinkersare lazy, spending too much time impressing others with the scores and their vast bank ac-counts that allows them access to these wines. Having lived in Asia for the last 10 years, I haveseen my fair share of this phenomenon. (I shouldve been armed with a few of these quips!)

Additionally, Chip raised some interesting points on how wineries are hiring consultants to

Parker-isewines, the hypothesis being that wines that score well with Parker will inevitablysell well and at a higher market price. This process, by definition, means that regardlessof where your wine is from you try to make it taste like its from somewhere else, or worse still,you are trying to make it taste like everything else! Gone are the nuances of variety, region, soiland weather and we end up with the Coca-Cola of wine. Now I am sure that Parker is not theonly wine critic that these consultants are tailoring wines for, but he is certainly the one who hastaken the most industry criticism for it. We saw this in Australia, much to the demise of Char-donnay in that country. 15 years later Chardonnay is only just emerging from the chill of its Sibe-rian-like exile in ABC (Anything But Chardonnay)!

As the discussion continued, it turns out that Parker and his gang of merry winenistas are notthe only ones in on the game. Kat revealed that people are like sheep, following the crowd with-

out knowing what they want or like; influenced by popular consensus without even knowingwhat the basis of this was. There is a Pavlovian effect to these types of comments, like whenPaul Giamattis character in Sidewaysstates, I am not drinking merlot, it affected audienceperception and led to a massive drop in merlot sales, with customers parroting this sentiment.The upshot of all this conversation around the article is that each and every one of us winer-ies, buyers, retailers and customers has a role and responsibility to play when it comes toselecting and purchasing the right wines.

The principle of triangulation using three points of reference to calculate a position; the morepoints of reference you have, the more accurate the results needs to be applied to wine se-lection. Wineries and producers also need to appreciate that not all wine lovers want their winesto taste the same. They need to build direct relationships with consumers to appeal to the tastes

of consumers, not just critics like Parker.

There is a plethora of data available that, if used properly, can ensure the right productsare offered to the right people at the right time and the right price. This technology should bethe best friend of wine consumers, producers and retailers. No longer are we constrainedby geography, communication or visibility; producers can now find their exact customers fromSingapore to New York and build direct relationships. Retailers can also use data to ensure theyare offering the right wines in the right location, during the right season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10783463/Is-everything-we-know-about-wine-wrong.html

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As technology continues to make the world smaller, now is the time for producers to be true totheir brands and create wines that make them stand apart. Forget what the critics saythepeople who drink your wines are the real experts!

Many thanks to the true lovers of the game: Chip Sellarole, Bret Fenton, Kathleen Malloy, and

Allen Murphey.