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Bottle Shock:
Beppi Crosariol seems to think so according to his Globe & Mail column on Wednesday, July 23rd entitled “Wine Connoisseurs – I call them cons” - to see click here. The piece focuses on a film called Bottle Shock, which I recently previewed and opened just this week. In fact, it might more appropriately be called Bottle Schlock. Be forewarned, this isn’t Sideways. Hopefully the upcoming second film, Judgment of Paris, based on the official story by journalist George Taber of Time Magazine, which is being released later this year, will be more palatable. In his column, Beppi takes aim at so-called wine experts. The film surrounds Steven Spurrier, a wine-loving Brit who owned the Academy de Vin located at his small boutique in Paris. The shop was apparently floundering until he organized an attention grabbing comparative blind tasting of Top French and California Napa Valley wines by a panel of well-known French wine & food authorities. It turns out that the judges were unable to tell the difference between top French Burgundy vs. California Chardonnay, as well as, top Bordeaux vs. Napa Cabs. Worse yet, the highest scoring wines turn out to be from California. This May 24, 1976 tasting was of monumental importance in terms of putting California wines into the spotlight. For details check out www.wikipedia.org. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_%28wine%29) Beppi goes on to say: I've always advocated calling connoisseurs "cons" for short. I've attended far too many professional blind tastings to have much respect for people who boast about their tasting abilities… In a fair tasting with no implicit clues, most experts will embarrass themselves most of the time. At a recent trade dinner in Toronto, one of Canada's best-known wine critics guessed a 1971 Chateau Latour, a famous cabernet sauvignon from Bordeaux, was a pinot noir, a variety so distinct from cabernet as to almost be another fruit. All of a sudden my phone was ringing – was that "best-known wine critic" me? While I was at the April 1st event in question, I couldn’t recall who had made the incorrect Burgundy guess mentioned in Beppi’s column. All I know is that when I was asked for an opinion, I suggested a well-aged (20-30 year old) first growth Bordeaux. Keep in mind that the 1971 Chateau Latour was presented after a long Tawse wine tasting dinner at Cru Restaurant. Moreover, earlier that day I was in the LCBO lab tasting over 100 wines for upcoming Vintages releases. While I happened to get it right, or at least petty close, who cares if had gotten it wrong. Would making an error mean that I too was a wine con? It turns out that Tony Aspler was the culprit. Tony emailed me the following explanation: Guilty! It was I who mistook a 1971 Latour for a Burgundy after a lengthy tasting of Tawse wines. Moray Tawse, a great Burgundy lover who has an amazing cellar, had brought two bottles to serve blind at the end of the dinner tasting. I had to leave early so I tasted the two wines on the fly. I made the mistake of introducing psychology into the equation – what would Moray bring to the table? – instead of analyzing each wine and relying on my palate? I plead the Harry Waugh Syndrome (asked when was the last time he mistook a claret for a Burgundy, he replied, ‘Not since lunch.’) Old wines, as you know, lose colour and their varietal character begins to blur. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell a really old Cabernet blend from an old Pinot Noir. Cheers, Tony As Tony points out, anyone can make an error. However, to my mind, that hardly means that wine connoisseurs are wine cons. Intensive knowledge and experience, along with a great palate, is the foundation of becoming wine expert. In the March 16, 2006 issue of the National Post I wrote an article "In Homage to Cabernet Sauvignon - Great Cabernet Sauvignon can last for decades - 1970 Beaulieu Vineyard Private Reserve still a "King" of a Cab". In this feature, I talked about my attempt to replicate, actually improve, the original tasting organized by Steven Spurrier. The more comprehensive comparative blind tasting I organized in Toronto appears in my December 19, 2007 Personal Memo column for the Financial Times of Canada. It was also covered by the American response by San Francisco Chronicle winewriter Hank Rubin. It seems that the simple averaging of scores out of 20 was flawed. Here is the detailed statistical analysis of Spurrier's results by Orley Ashenfelter and Richard E. Quand. There was no statistical difference between the two top wines: Stag's Leap 1973 and the real second place wine, which should have been 1970 Chateau Montrose. It seems that 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, under more appropriate statistical scoring procedures, would have ranked third putting it into not far behind in the group of secondary choices. How many readers knew that Spurrier, who had prior knowledge of the wines being tasted (although not the order), tied his top four wines with 14 out of 20 points? Or that his lowest score of 8 points went to the fourth place wine 1970 Chateau Haut Brion. As for the film, you can give it a try. Here are a few reviews & comments: The Toronto Star: Film review ** out of four by Linda Barnard http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/472879 The Globe & Mail: Film review ** by James McBride http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080806.wbottle06/
August 2nd
The last word: I suggest you pass for the four Vintages On Tour: Lailey Vineyard selections, which don’t hit the mark.
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Tomorrow’s Vintages release has some terrific wine buys. Anyone who enjoys good sparklers should rush out and buy half a case of 
The best buy Chardonnay of the release is 
From New Zealand is an extremely tasty, ready-to-enjoy, crowd pleaser: 
If seafood is on your menu, try the better-than-ever new 
Note that until August 16th, 50¢ of every bottle sold will go to the upcoming 
From France, there’s a remarkably delicious 
Another deal 
If you are looking for a racy Riesling, try the screwcap Aussi 
Vintages doesn’t always make it easy with their selection of Greek wines, but with Taste of the Danforth coming up next weekend,