The zenith of score inflation?

[Cris_Whetstone]

It’s difficult for me to consider Suckling a “critic” anymore and it’s been that way for a long time. I think he’s an ‘influencer’ without the trappings of being a trust fund, jobless college grad on Instagram. He promotes not only wineries making wines that will sell to wide audiences but more importantly, himself. Just watch those videos selling his ‘courses’. He’s selling what a wine writer with a name and a ‘house in Tuscany’ can be. He’s selling the dream. Accurate scoring of all wines will never be a part of that sort of marketing. Everything he bothers to tell you about has to be one of the best of everything or nothing of the scheme works.

[Chris_Seiber]

It’s difficult for me to consider Sucling a “critic” anymore and it’s been that way for a long time. I think he’s an ‘influencer’ without the trappings of being a trust fund, jobless college grad on Instagram. He promotes not only wineries making wines that will sell to wide audiences but more importantly, himself. Just watch those videos selling his ‘courses’. He’s selling what a wine writer with a name and a ‘house in Tuscany’ can be. He’s selling the dream. Accurate scoring of all wines will never be a part of that sort of marketing. Everything he bothers to tell you about has to be one of the best of everything or nothing of the scheme works.

That’s a really useful framework for understanding him.

[HenryB]

A wine that scores under 98 points from Suckling almost immediately hits the discard pile - I find this very useful esp when dealing with Bordeaux EP.

[Andrew_A_r_n_t_f_i_e_l_d]

People on this board love to hate on this guy. But I bet 98% of y’all secretly wish to be him.

He’s internationally known, respected in some circles (not here though, bunch of haters), most likely does well financially, travels the world, drinks amazing wines. Has a much better life than probably 98% of the folks on here.

If you think he’s a shitty reviewer, don’t read his reviews. If you think he inflates his scores to land lucrative business deals, don’t read his reviews. If you think he sucks up to winemakers for access, don’t read his reviews.

But some of the comments suggest there’s envy, jealousy, etc involved. It’s not a good look.

“What profiteth a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul”

Exactly.

I’d love to have the lifestyle, but not at that cost. I like to think that I value the respect of my peers more than that, to say nothing of my self-respect.

Also: I didn’t note any envy or jealousy in the comments here.

[Joseph_Grassa]

In just a short time Suckling became the most recognized wine critic in the world. Not only is he in every store and wine ad, but he is now teaching thousands of people “how to appreciate wine”. He has had the most to benefit from giving the highest ratings and the consumer has just been a resource to him rather than vice versa. The truth is that he has chosen to capitalize on consumers ignorance, rather than enlighten them. This is true whether he intends it or not, but I think he should know better.

Most people like us on here don’t like Suckling’s ratings because we have a little more knowledge and can see through the misaligned incentives. I try to make sure I pass that on to others who are not serious wine drinkers, because they are the ones who would buy into it and unintentionally the ones making Suckling so impacting. Hopefully some of them will buy the JD92, or WA92 instead of the JS96 next time they pick up a bottle of wine.

On another positive note. He is already big enough that the incentives to overinflate are less today than they were a year ago. He is big enough to really draw some attacks from enthusiasts like us, so hopefully he will finally be satisfied with the size of his following soon and start shifting his energy to helping the consumer make educated decisions.