"The death of the experts"

Great little article (though perhaps mostly promoting Vivo and Delectable) on the ‘death of the experts’ in the wine industry

https://www.meininger.de/en/wine-business-international/death-of-experts-0

We were ahead of the curve, of course! Too bad neither app wants to figure out how to tap into the million notes here!

Scan the label with your phone and download a long argument about the wine!

Complete with insults!

I ve known Robert since the early 80s. He helped created Wine magazine’s International Wine Challenge and led the attack dogs on the TCA and cork issue back in the mid 90s. He once did an experiment that showed people preferred young wine to new, even with ageworthy wines like Ch Palmer.

It seems to me that there are really only two publications that move the needle, parker and the Spectator.
I can t wait until Trip Advisor covers marijuana. I don t know if people will listen to the masses about wine.

? Mature?

Historically, wine writers and wine publications have balked at the idea of facilitating sales

Actually, the whole point is facilitating sales. Find someone who rated a wine 93 and you’re good, no matter who that person is.

Popular opinion is simply the worst way to rate anything that requires subjective analysis. Popular opinion has given us Oreos, chai latte, In-n-out, Miley Cyrus, and Meiomi.

Vivino already makes regular wine offers to its users, and users of Antonio Galloni’s Banquet app have access to 20,000 different wines. How many other ‘experts’ are considering ways of putting their toes into the waters of retail commerce? With or without the help of crowd-sourced wisdom?

When it comes to opinion, “crowd-sourced wisdom” is a contradiction in terms but they’re also linking Antonio to shilling for the wines he reviews, which is interesting. They should come out and say it if it’s what they believe, rather than accuse by implication.

I think that this is clearly true for most people. A few data points as examples.

At work, we sometimes have happy hours where people bring bottles of wine. One time, one of my partners brought an older Bordeaux that someone had given him. Cannot remember what it was but I think it was a classified wine that was 15-20 years old. Before I got there, he had opened it and a number of people had agreed that the wine was gone and they were about to dump it. I tasted it and it was clear to me that there was nothing wrong with the wine (maybe it needed a few minutes to open up) and actually was quite good. After a few minutes, others said that they liked it better, but I doubt they really did. They just felt that if I said it was good, it must be good.

A number of years ago at a similar event, probably in the early 1990s, we tasted three vintages of BV Private Reserve and one of BV Beautour blind. It was clear to me which was the Beautour. It was fine, a good value even, but did not have nearly the depth of the Private Reserves. Yet, for a number of people it was their favorite wine.

In addition to my regular wine geeks groups, I go to a wine tasting every month at the country club where we are members. Clearly, with respect to at least 70-80% of the people there (at least) bigger is better absolutely rules. Give them what we deride as a Parkerized wine and they love it.

That’s why CT notes/scores and notes on WB are somewhat more helpful to me than the random musings of the general public. My perception is that people on CT who take the time to post notes are more likely to have palates that align with mine, although you really have to read multiple notes to see how good the alignment is.

I have wine-loving friends who really enjoy Mollydooker, whereas I generally would much rather drink a Syrah-based wine that reminds me of Jamet. So it still comes down to knowing what you prefer and finding other people who tend to share your preferences.

Bruce

what do you like better than in and out?

do you provide an API? or a feed of some sort?

Feeds are available, of course, but not requested as of yet.

“The closest wine equivalent to TripAdvisor is Vivino, whose 22m users have collectively posted over 3.5m reviews.”

No mention of Cellartracker seems odd.

Until you consider that, for the most part, the users of CT and the users who get ‘reviews’ and ratings from Vivino/Delectable are completely different people. The latter is more the ‘great masses’ of wine drinkers - the CT folks are the more serious wine nerds, with collections and always too many bottles

Interesting. I didn’t realize that as I’ve never looked at Vivino or Delectable. I wonder which of those categories I fall into…

If you have more than 20 bottles in your cellar, I bet you know which group you belong to

This expert would rather be red than dead
2017-05-23_13-28-39.pdf (570 KB)

Haven’t we discussed this before ad nauseum? None of this is news.

I suppose the appreciation of old claret is a learned thing, whereas Kool Aid, esp spiked with alcohol, is what people really like. Beer is a learned taste too, tho evidently not much study is required.

I suppose if these apps etc take five or ten per cent of the business, then that s a loss for somebody.

Robert told me the story about consumers preference for young wine. That is all I know.

I completely agree with this based on my experience as well, and I’d be curious to see how wines are rated on a CT vs. Vivino / Delectable basis. Biologically, it seems like humans have a natural predisposition toward sugar/sweetness if based on nothing more than survival instinct. To want to drink aged wine with nuance likely implies that there is more to it than simple “easy-drinking-goes-down-smooth” enjoyment…i.e. an intellectual exercise. Who else thinks “cigar box” is tasty?

Amongst many that I have drank wine with - both family, friends, and co-workers, it is always the bigger/bolder/sweet fruit driven wines that seem to win out at least 80% of the time. That being said, I’ve noticed that these “big/bold” wines can sometimes serve as a gateway once the initial love affair wears off and one realizes there isn’t as much difference between wines of this style as others.