At the same time, it must be noted that two other American wine magazines, Wine Advocate and International Wine Cellar, gave to Case Basse Riserva 2001 96 points.

The 78 points of Wine Spectator appear rather “dysfunctional”. But is Mr. Sucking dysfunctional (and then its magazine Wine Spectator) or all the others that find Soldera Case Basse 2001 a truly magnificent wine?

As I said in a post the American wine public deserves much better that wine journalists fighting personal battles against good winemakers. This is not journalism and there is no reason to pay any cent to buy a newspaper that is using the cover of “objectivity” to fight personal battles.

1) For more than 3 years, I managed the ratings database in NYC, and organized the editorial tastings in the NY office. All the scores and notes were entered into an anonymous database, marked only by a letter/number combination. If I recall, there wasn’t a way to return to a tasted wine’s note to alter it after the wine had been revealed. Also, I never recall noticing a score that changed between the time of the editorial tasting and publication. As I worked closely with these numbers, I would have noticed something, somewhere, especially at the top end.

2) At one point, a large, corporate-owned winery lodged a complaint, and threatened to pull advertising because they felt their wines were being “unfairly” rated (meaning TOO LOW). This pressure was met by me personally researching the same wine in other publications, for numerous vintages to compare WS ratings with others. The scores were similar, and the threat was dropped. Never did I see the scores for that wine change.

I cannot vouch for systems in SF, or Europe, as I was not directly involved.

All in all, let’s be realistic here… I do believe that the “American” palate is a very real thing: Emphasis on big, bold, ripe, fruit and massive impact, instead of elegance, and complexity, especially the complexity that comes with proper ageing. The true beauty of that Casse Basse Brunello won’t be evident for years, as well as those less appreciated Piemontese wines.

The error here is that this style has become a prevalent standard for wines worldwide, regardless of tradition and history. Granted, winemaking technology and practice has improved wines tremendously, but it also standardizes quality, a huge mistake.

In my opinion, most Americans wine drinkers aren’t up to the task of understanding a Casse Basse, even when it’s served at it’s best. WS (etc) is catering to the common denominator (millions of readers) that are easily impressed by gobs of fruit and thickness and over-ripeness. Think of the millions(?) of beginner wine-drinkers who would read a 98-point review on a Casse Basse Brunello, go out and buy it never believe another WS rating again.