He wrote, “Thinking of you, @drvino, and remembering that if you don’t have anything nice to say, its better than saying nothing”

http://mypict.me/show.php?id=BI9S

And later added, “Some notes to follow. No bell pepper, but not much soul, either.”

14 wines were tasted over an approximately 100 minute period.

The first 6 wines were tasted with the delicious Filet that I cooked up, and cheese followed.

The only thing that people knew was the Sierra Carche 2005 was somewhere in the lineup.

Expectations were pretty high for most at the table, as some had come from very far away, and I would not want to pour shit for them, right?

Some people have said that I did pour shit. I take offense to that, as I poured either

a) Highly rated Jay Miller wines
b) Wines I sell and like
c) Both

Most of the choice b wines scored pretty well with the group (save Panarroz, which was very different from what I drank one week earlier).

I am not sure there was expectation bias, espectially considering the Sierra Carche wines were so easy to peg. They were disgusting. So that left people looking for the great wines. There were a few $100 btls of wine here. So clearly this tasting should have gone better, considering the reviews from Jay and the price tags on many of these wines.

What can be learned from a tasting like this, Charlie?

It would appear obvious, in the immediate future…Sierra Carche was some sort of fraud, at some level. The Wine Advocate, in the independent voice for the consumer, which aided in selling thousands of cases of this shit, has elected to nothing for the consumer here. No investigation, other than Mrs. Robert Parker tasting the wine. So, now consumers must tread carefully, or they may get duped again.

Points, as everyone agrees, tell you nothing about the character of a wine. Points do tell you how much an individual taster liked a wine relative to other wines that taster has experienced and rated.

So, when Daniel Posner put together a tasting of wines that someone (all WA in this case) has rated up to 95 points, we can all agree that Daniel has chosen wines that the reviewer likes and is willing to bet his reputation on.

That brings us back to the question of bias. Blind tasting eliminates, as Dr. V has said, label bias. I think we need to hear more from Mr. Posner and from Dr. V. about the potential for “expectation bias”. How was the tasting described in advance? What expectations did the tasters bring to the table?

What I find missing from this conversation is a longer discussion of conclusions.

–Was the tasting a fair measure of all the wines?

–If so, what conclusions are to be drawn about the tasting acuity of those who first reviewed the wines in print?

–Can any conclusions be drawn about bait and switch across a broad spectrum of the wine market or about any particular segment of it?

–What results would be seen if this same group of tasters were presented with a high ranking group of northern Rhones from the same producer and told that same introductory information as happened with the Sierra Carche tasting?

–Dr. V wishes that RP has tasted Sierra Carche in a similar fashion. I wish that all writing about wines done for publications like WA, WS, WE, CGCW, Tanzer, QRV were all done blind. Such tactics would not eliminate the bait and switch cheating by producers. For that we need better labelling laws. But, they would eliminate the potential for label bias–not that I believe it would eliminate it all simply because there appear to be reviewers who, in my opinion, overrate the areas they cover.

–Finally, I come to the question of reviewers only tasting samples that are provided to them and never tasting wines that are purchased in stores. Assuming good handling in reputable stores, the best way to taste wines that the consumer is going to buy is to buy them yourself. Even if one is not going to do that with all wines tasted, it is very useful to do it with a broad sample, including duplicates of wine samples sent to the publication. Something is going wrong in the system, and all writers, from Dr. V. and Gary V. to the giants like WA and WS need to take precautions that they are not being gamed from morning to night.

I think you draw an interesting conclusion…

Parkerized, or dare I say, “Millerized” wines is a hot topic in the wine business. One thing that was clear from this tasting is that the tasters on that day did not care for the Parkerized or Millerized wines.

Blind tasting is very revealing. I wish Jay Miller would try it for his reviews and we might see some more “honest” reviews, as bias, especially based on these wines at Sierra Carche tasting, has reared its ugly head in a bad way.

I wish that Robert Parker had tasted Sierra Carche in a similar fashion that we did last week. Then maybe his wife may not have scored it 93 points.

I await his promised video blog tasting this wine.

But this group as a whole seems so remarkably bad, and I’m wondering if there’s any factor linking them that might explain their joint badness. An importer who isn’t storing the wines at the proper temperature? Serious quality control issues with Spanish wines? Or have the winemakers been emboldened by their high WA scores to bottle crap and sell it under the same label?

I’m starting to suspect it’s the last option, which is unfortunate. Panarroz Jumilla used to be one of our go-to cheap reds, but the last bottle we bought was ghastly. Not quite as bad as what Dale described, but more along the lines of Cathy’s “extremely alcoholic cough syrup” descriptor.

Cathy – yes, the Panarroz was the worst wine of the day; severely flawed. Several people there had other experience with the wine and said it wasn’t representative.

Dylan – I did not go in to the tasting of 14 wines thinking they would all be bad. It was double blind (meaning nobody knew which wines were in the lineup) and none of the tasters knew even how many bottles of Sierra Carche were in the tasting. But, yes, I do think that expectations factor into tasting experiences. Blind tasting, while it has other drawbacks, at least removes label bias.

Thanks, I’ll imagine what Gary has to say-’cause I listen to him regardless of Parker’s ego driven fluff. I know that fluff drives the market, but to me, it’s fluff all the same. Drink-eat, smile-love… it’s all about the palate!