With all the threads about high end wines I’m wondering if you’ve noticed scoring trends with “everyday” wine vs. more premium wines. I opened a bottle of cheap prosecco (won’t name names) but I was surprised at how many people even liked in on CT. I couldn’t even make mimosas out of it since it made the OJ taste bad. I can separate myself fairly well when judging quality and what my preference is and I thought the wine itself was poorly made. The next day I popped open another sparkler that was quite good and enjoyed it with some take home sushi which was at a similar price point.
An interview with the Vivino creator said that all wines on the app follow the 100 point rating scale fairly closely when compared to other critics except one category. Sweet(er) wines break the scale and fall outside normal data points. So if normally it would be scored a 4 the sweeter wine will score a 4.4 This makes a lot of sense to me since sweet wine drinkers like to stay within that category. I was thinking if this also applies to budget. Do shoppers who shop in the $20 or below judge the wine to other $20 wines or on the whole continuum of wines they’ve tried.
How do you typically rate let’s say a $12 that may have 2 glaring flaws? Would you still consider it good?
I interpret what he’s saying to mean that “people who buy mass market ‘grocery store’ wine - which claim to be dry but really have very perceptible RS - don’t also consume fine wine.”
I don’t think he meant to say that buyers of Sauternes, Tokaji, etc don’t buy dry wines.
Look at the CT scores for some of the de Negoce’ wines. Some of the ones I have had score in the high 80’s and low 90’s for wines that are bottle shocked, wildly inconsistent and just mediocre. I guess if you pay only a few bucks for something and it turns out to not be horrible, that rates a 90 in some people’s minds.
Correct, we have some new to wine customers and are very nice. They tell me this is the first time they’ve started spending money on better quality wine.
I liken this idea to I never enjoyed cake as a child because children’s cakes are usually crap. As I’ve gotten older I’ve had amazing cake that I’ve enjoyed.
I think the post up thread about understanding the consumer overlays best on top of a score. If someone scores a wine high and says it’s smooth, better than expected, tastes of berries or not as good as the Meiomi they had the night before, well that should tell you something.
It reminds me of some friends of my parents we visited. The wife had mentioned she loves voting the opposite of her husband just to cancel out his votes. This is sort of how I feel sometimes about scoring. Perhaps some people inflate or deflate their score since they’ll know it’ll push the average more towards the score they believe the wine is.
There’s also the fact that most people who drink wine just like wine - pretty much all wine of their chosen color(s) or region(s) - and their scores reflect that promiscuity. That doesn’t mean they have good palates or know anything about good versus bad wine. Obviously not talking about Berserkers here…
When people ask for wine recommendations in the store. The first thing I ask them is what style of wine they enjoy. For me this breaks away from focusing on one region or even varietal immediately. 100% agree with you. I get Californian wine drinkers only occasionally or customers afraid to try any Chardonnay because of the oak monster even if it’s Chablis.