Comments on: There’s no point! Wine retailers that say no to scores

By: Massachusetts wine shops worth seeking out | Dr Vino's wine blog

Massachusetts wine shops worth seeking out | Dr Vino's wine blog — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:51:31 +0000

[...] and placed in the North End has a “manifesto” for “real” wine and is a points-free zone. The well-curated selection of the delicious esoterica of the wine world makes it a great stop for [...]

By: The Point-Less Life | Mike Steinberger's Wine Diarist

The Point-Less Life | Mike Steinberger's Wine Diarist — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:38:52 +0000

[...] ratings as they were just five years ago (and, in fact, a number of wine shops nationwide are now point-free zones). I’m curious if your observations square with mine (and Kermit’s), or if you think I’m [...]

By: Will China buy more foreign wineries? 20 wine questions for 2012 | Dr Vino's wine blog

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:08:51 +0000

[...] more retailers become points-free zones? As Americans’ confidence with wine climbs, shops may not need to turn to third-party [...]

By: RedNek glasses, Vinturi tested, duty free shopping — sipped and spit | Dr Vino's wine blog

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:59:47 +0000

[...] least one DrBigJ tasting note without attribution and slap on point scores, instead of pursuing the point-free path). [Village [...]

By: Gregg BUrke

Gregg BUrke — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 01:59:08 +0000

Greetings Doc,
I have been beating the drum for my fellow retailers to stop using scores for a while. In the score-centric NJ wine market it is rare thing for a store not to sell on scores. I am proud to say that I do not use point scores at all in my shop Maratene’s Fine Wine, and have not since I took over in 2008. I am glad to see a list of so many like minded people, of course none of them are in NJ.
Cheers

By: Great Wines Tasting Club

Great Wines Tasting Club — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:38:30 +0000

When we have founded our wine club 3 years ago in Montreal (Canada) we established right from the begining that wine personality was too complex to try to resume it into one single score: it takes words to describe it, specially the emotions you get from drinking it. How much points does an emotion worth?

We have wrote a detailed article to explain our position; it is in French but you can simply use the Google Translator. Here is the link:

http://www.clubdgv.blogspot.com/2011/11/editorial-choc-5-lire-de-linefficacite_11.html

Dr Vino, we love your site!

By: patrickdh

patrickdh — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:37:41 +0000

Beyond emerging wine destinations and owners as Justin, I believe points will be even more visible and pertinent in the subconscious, more than ever thanks to wine e-tailing. Judging by the re-design of the winelibrary.com website with its aprox. 40 different raters available – I don’t see how these are going away. Interesting post.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:07:49 +0000

Tinto Fino in NYC an all Spanish wine shop in the East Village also does not post scores whatsoever. I agree completely with score free wine shops!

By: Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:07:05 +0000

James Koch wrote: “I have told by many Spanish cellars that they need Parker’s/Miller’s scores mainly for India, China and other Asian countries.” Is that why Parker lets this Campo-Miller situation, which smacks of “pay to play,” go on? Because the people he is associated with are going to rake in Banzai buckaroos from the growing Asian markets? Maybe the American market and what people think of critics accepting payments to come ot wineries and taste wines is being written off for the promise of the “gigantic” Asian market.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:17:23 +0000

I run a small boutique beer & wine shop with about 400 wines and about 140 beers. I am a sales professional not an order taker. I do my own shelf talkers. I tell the wine sales reps that I represent hand made food products and people – not points. If I wanted to sell points I could simply order 400 wines with good scores, then stock the shelves and sit down. That being said, if a wine has points I will mention it on the shelf talker. For better or for worse (I think it’s for the worse) it probably helps sell product. I don’t subscribe to Parker so I probably have some wines that are highly rated by him but the information does not get on to the shelf talker. I do subscribe to Wine Spectator. My customers do not seem particularly interested in points. I feel that points are bogus. There is no agreed upon system. It’s not like gymnastics or figure skating, both of which are quite subjective but there are agreed upon scoring conventions and training that judges must go through before they are qualified to judge a gymnastics or skating competition. Lastly, I sometimes get wines that have tags on them which advertise points from other vintages. This drives me crazy and I throw the tags away.

By: Bryan L

Bryan L — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:04:21 +0000

I’d like to add a wine store to the list: Manley’s Wine & Spirits (New York, NY). Instead of scores, there are energetic signs placed around the store.

By: Max D

Max D — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:33:50 +0000

I’d like to add to the list: Morgan & York (Ann Arbor, MI) is a great wine store, and there are no points anywhere in sight.

By: Jonathan Sasser

Jonathan Sasser — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:42:28 +0000

I nominate a couple local shops who do not utilize scores to sell wine:

Barrel Thief (Richmond, VA)
River City Cellars (Richmond, VA)

By: Bill Klapp

Bill Klapp — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:03:08 +0000

The focus on retailers and no-points zones or no is patently absurd. These folks are trying to sell wine. It is a tough business, with a high failure rate. Many would use nude pin-up mailers if they thought that would sell more wine. The problem is, of course, the whole phenomenon of points and useless, fabricated purple prose tasting notes. And for that, we must blame ourselves and nobody else. When the Wine Advocate is down to 5,000 subscribers, this issue will disappear just as suddenly as it came 30 years ago…

By: John Glas

John Glas — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:37:20 +0000

I don’t find shelf talkers by retailers to be useful. Do we really think they are going to say bad things about the wine they sell? The only one who slammed wine they were trying to sell was Gary V. to my knowledge.

For all of you who hate pro scores how do you buy your wine? Do you go out and just buy any bottle of Burgundy priced $100 with no data on it? Do you buy bad vintages such as 2002 in Piedmont and Chateauneuf? I think you hate the idea of someone else trying to influence what you want to drink.

While I trust my own palate more than anyone’s I am not just going to throw down $50 for a bottle with no score. As mentioned Cellar Tracker can be a good source but there is plenty of worthless reviewers on the site.

I do plenty of scoring with notes and respect those who take the time to do so. We are passionate about wine and it is nice to have data on Cellar Tracker to see the evolution of the wine or to double check if I liked it.

No one reviewer will match up to anyone’s palate but overall most do a good job on wine reviewing.

John