Who do you trust most

WINE TALK
21

No Jeff Leve? [swearing.gif]

22

Sold your soul for a bet?

23

I voted for three:
Neal Martin
Jancis
Other (Decanter)

Ones I’ll listen to, depending on region/reviewer, and that I didn’t cast a vote for:
WA
WS
Suckling (sweet Bdx. only)
Galloni
Tanzer

Ones that I pay no mind to:
CT average
WE
Suckling (everything else)

24

[wow.gif] It is blowing my mind that the worst option of all, imo, the CT average, is winning this. And it’s not even close … CT average is lapping everybody! [shock.gif]

25

Shelf talkers aren’t as important these days, cuz of smart phones (they still have some importance).

To that list, I’d include: cellar tracker avg of folks I’m a fan of (the global CT avg isn’t nearly as interesting to me as the IAF avg) and John Gilman. The first definitely isn’t going to be listed on a flyer, and Gilman only in a geek oriented shop, but given my first comment…

26

Is this information available on CT? This would be my tops, as well.
And I should have added Gilman to my “Other” vote, as well, along with Decanter.

27

It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?

28

Brett Favre. Honestly, producer and vintage over any critic.

29

Too many shills on CT for me. WA 10-15 years ago, not so much now. WS has too much of agenda pro/con RE: winery’s. JD’s great, but easily excited. WB’s have too much of a herd mentality. The other’s I can take or leave. So the answer is…

Wilfred Wong!!! :slight_smile:

30

It’s available with some effort. You have to search for tasting notes (i.e. rather than wines), group them (by individual wines is typical, tho there are many options) and restrict by ‘only favorite authors’ (and add in whatever qualifiers you want). The following is an example for all Ladd Cellars wines (what a selfish example :slight_smile: ).

In a perfect world, there’d be a way where CT only displays IAF scores (when available). If there there aren’t any IAF scores, I assume you’d display the global CT score (color code the score so you know if it’s an IAF vs Global score). Perhaps allowing a weighted avg between the IAF & Global scores when there are few IAF votes…tho maybe that’s pushing things too far.

31

If Wilfred Wong hasn’t given it at least an 88, I don’t even want to hear about it.

32

Such a weird poll not to list so many well-known critics like Jeb Dunnuck, Ian D’Agata, Josh Raynolds, David Schildknecht, Monica Larner, and yes, even Mark Squires.

33

Definitely would count in some of the ones Ken mentions; at the same time, can list only so many and there is “other.”

On Cellartracker, I think the averages can be misleading, but if I find 5 or more recent notes and they show a trend, it’s definitely my go to resource. Especially, when purchasing older wines, what Neal Martin or even Allen Meadows–perhaps the oddest omission–said 5 or 10 years back does not cut a lot of ice.

34

No Burghound???

35

So as not to shred the delicate sensibilities of the store owner or staff, I ask them if they’ve tried it. If so, I ask them if it’s any good.

Then, I buy whichever wine that has a spoofy name that tells me nothing about it other that it has a fanciful label and a hipster name that evokes an emotional response to make me feel whimsically superior.

36

I’m surprised Suckling got a vote.

Where is the “soil-to-glass-transfer” guy? He tends to be pretty spot on.

37

Cellar tracker would seem to be the most biased score of the options listed. Many if not most of the scores posted on CT are from people on the mailing list or regular buyers.

38

he likely voted for himself.

39

They have access to the interwebs in, like, Tuscany?

40

Producer

Vintage

CT for a sense of whether it is ready or if some folks I trust have reviewed the wine

This site

Then perhaps critics.

If Bordeaux, I do look at Neal Martin and Leve’s site above CT.