There is a theory that wine critics are going to be put out of business by web-enabled amateurs. According to this theory, Robert Parker and his ilk will cease to be significant because CellarTracker and even wine blogs bring the wisdom of the masses to the problem of wine.
Yeah, well: Submitted for your consideration, as Rod Serling used to say, this exchange on one of those websites where you can ask anything you want and get answers from random passers-by:
there is a girl i like and i want to get some wine to share with her and her friends sometime. i haven’t drank much wine so i’m investigating advice on what you would suggest for a group of friends in college, something good even if a little pricey, and for the fall time.
Chris G 1:42 am on September 1, 2010
Go for a good domestic chilled wine.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 7:05 AM and is filed under From the Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
September 1st, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Clever! I think the inherent flaw in The Wine Advocate vs. the Web is that those looking for the type of advice you cited above, collegegirlfriendgoodevenifpricey, would not be likely to delve into the depths of professional (and purchased) wine reviews, even if the Web did not offer such sterling help as “go for a good domestic chilled wine”.
Which might not be such bad advice, after all.
September 1st, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Good point, Jolan. And I don’t really mean to run-down the value of things like CellarTracker, which I use myself. When I’m considering wines, I spend a little time on the web getting a feel for what several people say.
As someone who is old enough to have participated in the dot-com boom — when everyone was entirely certain that the web was going to change everything — I’m amused by people who believe that the wisdom of crowds will replace singular voices. There will always be a place for those.
September 6th, 2010 at 3:12 PM
The wisdom of crowds currently votes for Yellowtail and Gallo wih their dollars. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m geared more toward the exceptional than the average. Y’know, more Jeopardy, less Family Feud.