I’ve always suspected that Wine Spectator’s b .s. factor was high normal plus. Now this funny bit from www.newspaperdeathwatch.com
Editors at the annoyingly elitist Wine Spectator must be red-faced after their magazine bestowed a coveted Award of Excellence on a non-existent restaurant named Osteria L’Intrepido. The prank was dreamed up by Robin Goldstein, author of The Wine Trials, as part of a research project. Goldstein concocted a website featuring a menu assembled from recipes found in an Italian cookbook and submitted it as an entry in the magazine’s contest, along with a $250 entry fee. To twist the knife a little, he put together a reserve wine list “largely chosen from among some of the lowest-scoring Italian wines in Wine Spectator over the past few decades.” His blog entry lists some of the reviews Wine Spectator published of his choices:
“Sweet and cloying. Smells like bug spray.”
“Smells barnyardy and tastes decayed.”
“Turpentine. Medium-bodied, with hard, acidic character.”
These reviews apparently missed the fact-checkers at the magazine, which awarded it a top honor anyway. We suppose $250 will buy you a lot these days.
Insomniactive 