THOUGHTS ON THE WINE DICTATOR'S TOP 100 LIST
PRESENTED IN DECEMBER 2002.
Once again the Wine Dictator has offered up its list of the
"TOP 100 Wines of the Year," an exercise that creates all kinds of
trouble for retailers around the country. Since most people have no
confidence in my ability to select a good bottle of wine, they'll dial up our
phone and start asking which of these wines we have in the shop. After
all, if it's the top wine of the year, it's got to be good, right?
Please don't call asking for these wines. I don't think we have any of
them in the shop.
The #1 wine of the year is from Guigal, a superb wine producer in France's Rhone
Valley.
I wonder what Monsieur Guigal thinks about this "honor"? His Châteauneuf-du-Pape
is a wine he puts together from wines he has purchased on
the bulk market. It is a wine he offers, not as a featured item in his
portfolio, but as a matter of convenience.
Here is a fellow who pours his heart and soul into his viticulture and
winemaking, producing some extraordinary wines. Yet The Wine Spectator
crew selects a wine Guigal offers as a "negociant" product as its top
wine for this year! They don't select a wine that comes from his own
property!
It would be as though Van Gogh was cited for excellence, not for Starry Night
but for some "Paint-By-Numbers" work he dashed off!
Wine #2 comes from the Beringer Blass stables, a big advertiser in the
publication. If you wouldn't trust a restaurant reviewer who accepts money
or free meals, how can you put your trust in a publication that likens itself to
Consumer Reports, yet accepts ADVERTISING DOLLARS from wineries it claims to
critique objectively?
Wines from Antinori and Banfi, further big advertisers, are also prominent on
the list. Not to mention Columbia Crest and Chateau Ste. Michelle wines.
As usual, their ratings of the wines are counterbalanced by price and production
levels. Thus, a 97 point Brunello of 12,000 case production and $70 price
tag is down the list from a 94 point $50 Brunello of which Banfi made 32,500
cases. A 98 point Brunello placed 22nd!
The highest scoring wine on the list received a 99 point score, yet it places
"only" as 14th on the "hit" parade.
The Spectator defends this "fuzzy math" by saying they include an
"X-Factor" in the equation. This is the "excitement"
factor.
Lewis Carroll would enjoy trying to figure out the logic in this list!
I'm certain the Rothschild's at Chateau Lafite are thrilled to have their
efforts validated by the knowledge that their 1999 vintage finished three places
ahead of an $11 Washington State Chardonnay from Columbia Crest Winery!
Interesting to note that NO Port wine made the list. This despite the
glowing reviews for the 2000 Vintage Porto's! No German wines cracked the
Top 100! And the 2001 vintage is being heralded by German producers as a
very fine vintage. And the Wine Spectator has said it's even better than
that!
Newton Vineyards had its "second" wine, Claret, tabbed for the
list. It's a young vines' bottling. None of its "first
quality" wines made the list, however. That, frankly, doesn't surprise me,
however.
Robert Mondavi Winery, taken to task by The Spectator for being a
"slacker," has its 94 point 1999 Reserve Cabernet as #12 on the list,
just ahead of the 95 point Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.
I hope the folks making hundred dollar bottles of Krug Champagne in France don't feel badly that their efforts are
16 places behind Sonoma's Chateau Souverain Merlot!
Poor Angelo Gaja, one of Italy's top, absolutely maniacal, quality-oriented
producers, must be on the "outs" with Spectator publisher Marvin
Shanken. Not a one of his magnificent wines made the
"cut." Yet a $13 Soave Classico is in the top half of the
list!!!
Only two Pinot Noir wines made the list, both from Oregon.
Sorry California and Burgundy: You kids must not know what you're doing!!!
This despite the plethora of wonderful 1999 vintage red Burgundies.
While we applaud those who seek to introduce wine to new consumers and those who
help demystify the subject, those who represent the criticism of wine as
something which can be quantified with precision contribute to its being
misunderstood.
That's my two cents' worth.
Gerald Weisl
wine merchant
Written December 2002
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