Is there anything which involves both...
(1) lots of subtle and subjective judgement calls
(2) humans yearning to show off their wealth / sophistication / status
...which is NOT fake or widely-faked?
Is wine fake?
11–20 of 559 posts
Re: Is wine fake?
#12It's unfortunate that the price section of the article isn't a bit more nuanced. There is definitely a big difference - it just has diminishing returns effect and the drop off price point is likely lower than most experts are willing to admit
Re: Is wine fake?
#13All I know about wine is that it comes in a box.
Re: Is wine fake?
#14TL;DR -- "Wine is not fake. Wine experts aren’t fake either, but they believe some strange things, are far from infallible, and need challenges and blinded trials to be kept honest. How far beyond wine you want to apply this is left as an exercise for the reader."
It is a showoff sport. Insane wine prices are there for rich people who have too much money to spend, or people who are in desperate need of validation. We all know someone in a McMansion with premium beige textured walls and a few Lexus who has a "wine cellar" that they can't stop talking about. The market is mostly for them.
I say "mostly" because like TFA says, some people really can tell the difference, but I feel bad that they have to pay so much more due to the idiot tax.
Re: Is wine fake?
#15I took the introductory sommelier exam as a hobbyist, but I was in a room with ~200 people in the industry. We collectively blind tasted about a dozen wines, and I watched as people around me mostly guessed correctly with astonishing accuracy.
There may be some nonsense in wine tasting, but it is definitely possible to develop a body of knowledge and experience that allows one to identify wines based on only your senses. It's important to note that the CMS only includes traditionally produced wines in the blind tasting - no curveballs (pinot grigio grown in Alaska or whatever).
Re: Is wine fake?
#16I worked at WineSpectator.com in 2012-2013. I'll say this in their favor: the wine tastings were blind. A bunch of interns would set up the wine tasting, pouring the wine into glasses and then hiding the bottles. Only after everything was setup were the editors allowed into the room. So when the editors drank the wine, they had no idea if they were drinking a $9 bottle or a $900 bottle. They had to focus on the taste…
Maybe some of them were synesthetes?
Re: Is wine fake?
#17I worked at WineSpectator.com in 2012-2013. I'll say this in their favor: the wine tastings were blind. A bunch of interns would set up the wine tasting, pouring the wine into glasses and then hiding the bottles. Only after everything was setup were the editors allowed into the room. So when the editors drank the wine, they had no idea if they were drinking a $9 bottle or a $900 bottle. They had to focus on the taste…
In that event, do you know if the 900$ bottles were qualified as more enjoyable than the 9$ bottles?
For instance, in Costa Rica, one year, many wine drinkers prised this wine as exceptionally good, specially consideringn it was very very inexpensive and not even packaged in a glass bottle.
https://vino.cr/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CLOS-DE-PIRQUE-CA...
I can't remember the exact number, but it cost between $5 and $10. That was over 10 years ago
Re: Is wine fake?
#18More expensive wine doesn't necessarily taste "better" - as better is a highly subjective experience, specific to the individuals preferences. But it does tend to taste more "complex", e.g. like more different things at once, and more elegant, e.g. containing rarer flavour notes like oak or earthyness in reds or clearer mineralic taste in whites.
Also, in wine, the price to value ratio is anything but linear. In most European countries, once you've made it past the 8 euro mark, you can get some great wines that get a lot better up to about 30 euro a bottle. After that,paying an additional 100 only gets you a marginally better wine, if at all.
Overall though, the best advice is to drink whatever you enjoy.
Re: Is wine fake?
#19I worked at WineSpectator.com in 2012-2013. I'll say this in their favor: the wine tastings were blind. A bunch of interns would set up the wine tasting, pouring the wine into glasses and then hiding the bottles. Only after everything was setup were the editors allowed into the room. So when the editors drank the wine, they had no idea if they were drinking a $9 bottle or a $900 bottle. They had to focus on the taste…
>notes of blue
I'm so stealing that
Re: Is wine fake?
#20I am no wine guru but I do know one thing for sure. There is definitely such a thing as bad wine. If paying a little more would guarantee not having a terrible bottle, that would make me pretty happy. In the real world I've not found that to be true though.
The thing is, wine "quality" is entirely subjective. I've not found much correlation between price and whether I will like it or not. The only safe bet is that if it tastes too strongly of vinegar, probably people won't like it as much. But some European wines (Spain and Italy) intentionally produce wine with a non-negligible amount of vinegar taste. I know of a single maker that only puts out wines that I consider g…
I'd be shocked if you thought there's was actually no correlation if you're thinking of a price range from $5 to $100+. The worst wines by far I've had have been the ultra cheap stuff. Once you get above like $20 or whatever your personal threshold is though the variance is much smaller in terms of quality I'd say.