Are you getting irritated by James Suckling's scores?

Almost every offering I get on the net has a Suckling score attached. Makes sense of course, if you can market a wine with 95+ points, go Suckling, and if he has reviewed it, there is a good chance that it does have a high score. Have tasted a few of these, and found his scores especially for Bordeauxx are between four and six points higher than I would score them.

This generosity of spirit no doubt skews the market, and allows a lot of retailers to sell stock quickly thanks to the sense of urgency that comes from a high score (“buy before we sell out”). Now I know there are a number of cynics may feel that it is a marketing ploy to sell more newsletters, but so ubiquitous are these notes, does anybody other than stores need to subscribe?

I’m not irritated, I disregard his notes (scores and description) entirely.

Persona non grata of wine critics.

Actually, he makes things easy. If it’s not 100pts, it’s crap.

I will give him credit that he’s the 1st English speaking “critic” to figure out that he’ll do better focusing on Asia as a market.

No,i just ignore them or redraw four pr five point from the score.And i don’t make any buying decesions based on his scores or rewievs.

I just never pay any attention to a Suckling score.

I ignore him entirely, but I am guessing the world doesn’t, and that deforms the market to a degree. Nothing to be done about it though

It makes me feel better by validating my purchase decisions. I like drinking 99-100 point wines.

Yes, because many retailers use his top score as the only score indicated in an email. It takes multiple clicks to find out if anyone else has reviewed it and what their thoughts are.

While I personally find his scores risible, I think he is performing a tremendous public service. Consumers have finite resources. By causing some portion of wine buyers to expend some portion of their resources on wines that won’t actually live up to his ratings, they have fewer resources to buy (and thus drive up the price of) wines I wish to buy myself. It’s kind of like putting a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask on every bottle of wine. If we lived in a world where there was one infallible and incorruptible wine critic, her pronouncements would have a much greater effect on the availability and pricing of truly great wines.

Retailers love him because they only have to pay for four different shelf talker cards and can typically use them randomly.

What I find even more irritating is Suckling in a scarf, puffing on a cigar; it’s when he’s most pretentious:

This.

Received earlier today an emailer from a retailer I use touting an unknown, 98-point Argentinian Malbec for $26.99. Suckles.

Click, delete.

If it’s a retailer you use, they’d be better served saying they found an Argentinian Malbec they think you might like.

My favorite shop has started doing the same thing and it took me a while to get the routine. I agree, click, delete.

And therein lies the annoyance. Points sell, and this buffoon sells points. Thus, many retailers use him for their daily email blasts. You and I might delete, but I suspect a fair number of people will bite.

With luck, the uniformed will spend all their money for those wines, leaving the good stuff for us! [cheers.gif]

Is this some blue collar slur?
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Ha!

You got me!

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I don’t find his scoring as irritating as I find him. What a pretentious twit.

Indeed! My cellar has gotten so much better since he started reviewing wines. Whereas I used to have to settle for an 89 on a Tuesday, now I can drink 97s every night of the week. Everything tastes so good now!