wine rating question

[Botafogo]

Here are the views of one of our favorite Barolo producers:

“To wine ‘guides’, humbly speaking:
In 1983 I asked the journalist Sheldon Wasserman not to publish scores for my wines. Not only did he not publish the scores; in his book, “Italy’s Noble Red Wines”, he also wrote that I had asked not to be included in ‘classifications’ in which a comparison becomes a divisive numerical term rather than expressing shared human toil. I have not changed my mind: my tiny farm producing 20,000 bottles of wine a year interests only a small number of customer-friends. I believe in freedom of information, even if the judgment is negative. I think of my hills as an anarchical arena, with no inquisitors or opposing factions, whose inner richness is stimulated by severe, thoughtful critics; I strive for a community that can still express solidarity with whoever has not been so well-rewarded by Mother nature. Wishful thinking? Allow me to dream.”

Roberto