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Interesting Article - 9/5/2009 11:17:15 AM

pbm

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From: New Hope, Pennsylvania
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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wine4-2009sep04,0,3295012.story

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PBM
The Liver Is Evil It Must Be Punished

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RE: Interesting Article - 9/6/2009 12:48:22 AM

pjaines

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From: London
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Check out the discussion on the Decanter wine awards - related topic me thinks.

As for some of those tasting competitions - they are a crap shoot. There are so many of them that in the end you filter out the awards from some of them and concentrate on the respected ones. The problem is, which ones are the respected awards?

I use CT.

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My new DJ stuff....

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RE: Interesting Article - 9/6/2009 5:32:22 AM

pbm

Posts: 2983
Joined: 3/5/2008
From: New Hope, Pennsylvania
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I agree. I think the reason they'll never go away is that they're the equivalent of the word "free" in advertising. They'll always get your attention -- I admit I look closer at any bottle with a stupid little gold label on it -- and they'll make a difference in a huge part of the market.

I actually looked closely at the Decanter award format a few weeks ago because one of my favorite Virginia wineries won a Decanter award. Well after a little digging it was clear that it was only a second or third place finish in a regional varietal category which, while still impressive for a Virginia wine, is somewhat less impressive than "Decanter award winner" sounds at first.

The thing that's best about CT is that even if it's not in the database (or has too few or poorly written reviews) you can just post your inquiry on the forum and get virtually instant assistance. But like we've all said, that's cost us as much as it's saved us!

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PBM
The Liver Is Evil It Must Be Punished

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RE: Interesting Article - 9/6/2009 10:13:00 PM

Colonel Lawrence

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From: Arabia
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My favourite example of the vagaries of tasting is from two separate EWS Blind Tasting sessions.
Robert Parker annually sits down and tastes wines (blind) with EWS.
At the EWS Blind Tasting - February 24, 2004 First Growths vs. The Challengers: 1996 were compared blind.
Looking at just the Bordeaux 1st Growths this was their ranking:
1st Lafite Rothschild (55)
2nd Margaux (29)
3rd Latour (25)
4th Haut Brion (19)
5th Mouton Rothschild (7)

At the EWS Blind Tasting - December 8, 2005 Wine tasting 1995 vs. 1996 Bordeaux with Robert M. Parker, Jr. the same 1996 1st growths were ranked. The scores were a little different!!!:
1st Mouton Rothschild (136)
2nd Haut Brion (99)
3rd Latour (30)
4th Margaux (28)
5th Lafite Rothschild (15)

Now I've forgotten most of my statistics, but I think the scores are what's called - negatively correlated!
You can choose to believe the wines did some amazing maturing, or rather that blind tasting, even among experts, is a hazardous business.
Rather than put me off, this is where I got my obsession with only trusting blind tastings - but lot's of them (for comparison). Just imagine the bias that "creeps in" when everyone knows what they're drinking and how it's supposed to score.

L.

Technical note:
The first tasting had 50 tasters, who each had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd vote to award (3,2 and 1 points respectively).
The second tasting had 99 tasters who similarly rated 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
This accounts for the higher numbers in the second test.
Note that many other wines (approx. 11) also could have scored points, leaving less for the 1st Growths.

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RE: Interesting Article - 9/7/2009 6:54:46 AM

rbazinet

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From: Toronto, Ontario
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Colonel,
I totally agree. If it is not blind, well it is not blind!

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