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?
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.
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.
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!