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+--- Thread: Wine Ratings (/thread-17994.html)
- newtoowine - 02-16-2006
I have only been into wine for about 2 months. I have been using wine spectator and ratings of 85 or better as a guidline for purchases. Is this okay as a start or are ratings overrated. Living in PA we also have what is known as chairman's selection in our select store's so far this system seem to be working. Any advice appr.
- Thomas - 02-16-2006
Ratings are what they like--won't help you much unless you like what they like.
It's best to find out what your tastes are in wine before calibrating your palate to anyone else's, especially wine critics.
- Oenotheque - 02-17-2006
I will take the contrarian stand since beating up Bobbo and Laube is so overplayed. I think wine ratings are a great guide for what to try just not necessarily what to like. I have had high scoring wines that I didnt really care for (2004 Crocker & Starr SB, 94ptsWS) and I have some favorites that have scored low among the critics (1997 Grgich Cab 87WS I believe).
Lets face it we could never try all the wines, I think that the critics can be a good guide for wines to try and wines to avoid. When one is building their pallate and vernacular it doesnt make much sense to just blindfold dartboard it and grab a bottle.
Another element is that as your exposure and palate grows, you may find that you consistently disagree with a wine taster regarding a particular wine or varietal. This can also be of value because you just operate in direct opposition.
Best idea before I have to claim this a novella would be go out and get 3 90 pointers of a varietal and taste them all blind. Let the wine develop your palate not the score.
Happy Hunting!
- Oenotheque - 02-17-2006
Oh and I am a huge fan of PA and NH for their state run stores. One wine that I would grab that was recently in the chairman's selection was the 1998 Concha Y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet, Chile. I am a huge Melchor fan and am planning on grabbing a couple myself. From what I hear, it is similar to the 99 and 02 being more extracted and not necessarily as balanced as the 00 or 01. All are fantastic though.
- newtoowine - 02-17-2006
Thanks I will look for it this weekend although I think the 2 stores that i go to are out, but I have grabbed quite a few of the selections and so far I have been pleased
- Thomas - 02-18-2006
Just to be clear--I don't beat up on critics; hardly mention their names. But having had the experience of consuming wine for so long I simply reject the notions that
1. you can't taste a lot of wine on your own--just go to tastings, join or start a tasting group, and other possibilities; and I don't know a critic yet who claims to have tasted, or even to have interest in, all the wines that are out there.
2. starting at 90 pointers will get you nowhere if you have no benchmark to begin the process.
Best to do some learning before spending money on a critic's palate.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-18-2006).]
- TheEngineer - 02-18-2006
I also would not place much trust on the food critics. If you only use the wine scores to guide you to what to start with, then you are closing off a whole world of wines that are outside of these scores. Wine is not a math exercise, and high scoring wines (as noted) are not necessarily the ones you like, but again, if you don't look outside this range, you will miss the world of wines.
To learn something does take a bit of effort. How much effort is up to you but much better to do as Foodie suggests, then to arbitrarily limit your wine selection. Case in point, my favorite Riesling comes from a small producer that no wine critic has even come close to writing about, yet, his wine are a favorite amongst a few wine boards and can be found in stores in the area.
Another suggestion, find a wine store you like and trust. They can take you and show you the world of wines....just don't do this at peak hours. Be sensitive to their needs as well.
- Innkeeper - 02-18-2006
And that come from a slide rule toting guy. Case in point. The treasures of our collection are from Tobin James, and we have never seen a single report on any of their wines. They also eschew competitions, as do many top notch wineries.
- newtoowine - 02-18-2006
Okay I took the suggestion. I opened a bottle of Frei Bros PN rated 79ws and a Lois Latour rated at 93. I include my wife who didn't no the ratings. We bot liked the higher rated better. Now the confusing part the first glass of LL I tasted and then gave to my wife it was great, I then poured a 2nd glass for myself, for some reason this wasn't as good and actually My stomach started to feel bloated, I then went out on the porch and the wine seemed to taste better out there. My 2nd glass the 3rd from the bottle tasted like the 1st glass good but my stomach nevere settled. My son who was in the den around the glass also asked what was in my glass that it smelled. He then had an allergic reaction(peanut or nuts ) do this too him. A lot of issue here but my 2 questions are will wine bring on gastreous effects and has anyone ever heard of pn having an effect on folks allergic to peanuts. He did have an ice cream at a friends that may have brought on the reaction but im just curious if the wine may have played a role in it
- TheEngineer - 02-18-2006
IK,
I tote my slide ruler thing like a sword.... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
Now if I only know which side went back in first.......????
- Drew - 02-20-2006
The first problem is your comparing Burgundy (Louis Latour) to California Pinot Noir...generally apples and oranges. Completely different styles. Also comparing an expensive wine to an inexpensive one, again generally, the expensive one wins out most of the time. Now, personally, I don't like Burgundy so I'm betting that it was that wine that upset your stomach. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img] Kudos for PA State run stores? You must be joking! I visit PA often, only live a few miles south, and their State Runs are awful, no selection, bad pricing and uneducated help. Wine ratings from "noted" critics don't bother me as long as I know their palate. I do follow Big Bob from WA as there is a side of me that likes the big extracted wines that he rates high. What I don't like about critic scores is that the higher scored wines become trophys limiting their availability to us wine DRINKERS into the hands of wine FLIPPERS.
Drew
[This message has been edited by Drew (edited 02-20-2006).]
- newtoowine - 02-20-2006
Drew the regular wine and spirit stores are terrible, They have what they now call premium stores that carry a good selection and also these chairmans selections which are supposed to be good wine highly discounted there is 1 in chadds ford at the brinton lake plaza and also in media right off of the blue route.These were the stores I was referring to
- Drew - 02-21-2006
Wow, is this something new? How would one know a Premium from a regular store? As I visit the York area regularly might be cool to see what the premium stores are selling.
Drew
- newtoowine - 02-21-2006
Yes the stores are pretty new and popping up all over. Not sure if it's okay to give links on here but search of pa wine and spirits will take you to there online site that has listings of stores and there selections
- Innkeeper - 02-21-2006
Post the link.
- newtoowine - 02-21-2006
http://www.pawineandspirits.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10051&catalogId=10051&langId=-1
- Drew - 02-21-2006
Thanks!
Drew
- newtoowine - 02-21-2006
Your Welcome
Not sure if they list on the website but the Franklin Mills Mall is something like 15,000 sq. ft. They started doing this to keep PA. consumers in the southeast region from going to delaware
- newtoowine - 02-21-2006
I have a trip down to the point in May I'll have to visit some of your local stores and check out the selection in Maryland [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/tongue.gif[/img]
- brappy - 02-22-2006
Have to admit, I've bought from thier web store; They ship to any state store, so I have them ship to Shrewsbury and pick up there. The Chairman's selection can be quite nice at times, but if something good comes up, be quick about ordering it. It will be gone in a couple of days.