Archive | Current System Paradigms

Consumers who try to rely upon wine ratings to make purchase decision are often thwarted by the widespread absence of reviews. For that reason, I’ve been trying to figure out about how many wines that are for sale in the United States have actually been rated by critics. The numbers suggest that only about 25% […]

Words can mean different thing to different people. What does “complex” mean? Or “balanced?” “Big?” “Olive-tinged black currant?” “I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ” “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down […]

How you ask a question can determine the answer you get. The concept lies at the heart of journalists, scientists, those who interview job candidates, police detectives, opinion pollsters … and wine ratings. In many settings — especially those where the vino-cognoscenti gather — the question, “What did you think of that wine?,” will frequently […]

This is the next-to-last article in a series about the difficulties faced by retail wine buyers and the problems with the existing systems created to address that problem. The entire series The Problem: Welcome To The Vino Casino And Wine’s Shaky Core Genetics: Inherited Taste Chaos Sabotages How Wine Gets Recommended Scaling: 3/4 Of Wine […]