Comments on: The Top Seven Wine Bloggers (not really)

By: ElRatonColorao

ElRatonColorao — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:17:27 +0000

Greg –

So, Gary wants to change the way wines are rated? Not so sure about that – the first words out of his mouth (after he tells you how many bones the wine cost) is a score he gives the wine based upon the 100 point system – how exactly is that different?

I think Gary V has been good overall – but you can lump him in with all the others on the scoring thing.

From my perspective – I would prefer a more objective approach to how one likes a wine – for instance, “this wine is a good value at the price” – as opposed to, “I give this 86 points – what does that really mean anyway? We have been conditioned into buying into the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) for most things in life – including wine.

My take is that anyone who needs a subjective number from one persons palate to make a wine buying decision is a L-O-S-E-R…I would also go that far to give that assessment to anyone who feels compelled to “grade” a wine in that way as well.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:48:01 +0000

Vinjoe

I wasn’t referring to the bias or unbiased opinion of the big 3 (WA, IWC, WS). I was saying its a goal of Gary V’s to change how wines are rated.

Specifically, I was referring to the new york times writer as a pencil pusher.

By: vinojoe

vinojoe — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:41:53 +0000

Greg – it may be true that Gary V is unconventional and sometimes unbiased, but it’s not a case of the industry “liking” or “not liking” him. From their point of view he doesn’t have value to them, because, again, you can’t create a sell sheet or POS using his recommendation (not yet anyway).

As for “pencil pushers worried about advertising dollars”, I suggest you consider reading Tanzer or Parker, neither of whom accept advertising in their magazines. Further, Wine&Spirits magazine is known inside the industry as a publication that has never and will never be swayed by advertising. Personally I’ll listen to any of those three over a retailer trying to reach multimillion-dollar sales goals any day of the week — regardless of whether he’s blasted “some” of the wines he sells or not.

That’s not a knock on Gary — what he’s doing has changed wine drinking in the US. I simply give more weight to the reviews and opinions of people whose job it is to review, rather than sell, a wine.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:54:55 +0000

Gary Vaynerchuk does his best to give am unbiased opinion on his wine vlog. He’s blasted some of his top sellers, and has told consumers to pass on wines that WineLibrary sells. At the same time does it in lingo any Joe can understand. The industry doesn’t like him cause he’s unconventional as he was first to social networking. He openly states he wants to put the big 3 rating system out of business.

Everyone has an opinion and every opinion has some bias, but I’ll take someone who open shows his reaction to a wine over some pencil pusher in an office worried about advertising dollars.