Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence Goes to Fake WIne List

I¡¯ve being critical of Wine Spectator in the past.  I think a lot of their ratings are bogus and based more on advertising, sample submissions, and relationships than the juice in the bottle.

Now I have an entirely new justification to roll a cynical eye at arguably the most influential wine publication in print.  In this edition (August 2008) they awarded their prestigious Wine Spectator Award of Excellence to a fake wine list housed at a fake restaurant, facetiously called Osteria L'Intrepido (a play on the name of a restaurant guide series the prankster founded) The more hysterical part of the story is that their prestigious ¡°Reserve List¡± of wines was filled with wines that were deemed ¡°unacceptable¡± and ¡°disappointing¡± wines.  A sample:

AMARONE CLASSICO 1998 (Veneto) Tedeschi 80,00 €
Wine Spectator rating: 65 points. ¡°¡­Not clean. Stale black licorice¡­¡±

AMARONE CLASSICO ¡°LA FABRISERIA¡± 1998 (Veneto) Tedeschi 185,00 €
Wine Spectator rating: 60 points. ¡°¡­Unacceptable. Sweet and cloying. Smells like bug spray¡­¡±

AMARONE CLASSICO ¡°GIOÉ¡± 1993 S. Sofia 110,00 €
Wine Spectator rating: 69 points. ¡°¡­Just too much paint thinner and nail varnish character¡­¡±

CABERNET SAUVIGNON ¡°I FOSSARETTI¡± 1995 (Piemonte) Poderi Bertelli 120,00 €
Wine Spectator rating: 58 points. ¡°Something wrong here. Of four samples provided, two were dark in color, but tasted metallic and odd¡­¡±

The hero of this story and architect of this prank is British author, Robin Goldstein, co-writer of The Wine Trials Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings.  

He¡¯s getting my $10.17 for his book on principle alone.