Do critic's scores influence your buying decisions?

[Roy Hersh]

Are you influenced by professional critic's ratings when it comes to making your purchasing decisions?

Do peer reviews carry as much, or more/less weight for you when making buying decisions when you simply can't taste a bottle for yourself prior to purchase?

[Rune EG]

Yes, they have influence to some extent.
But I have learnt on the way which wine journalists that have a taste that is closest to mine, and those I read with great interest. Some wine journalists have very limited knowledge of port, and their reviews I ignore.

I also use the FTLOP tasting note base quite a lot. Both to learn after I have tasted a bottle and checking how others scored it, or to check the tasting notes before deciding what to buy when I have alternative purchasing options.

[Peter W. Meek]

Well, Roy, considering that you are a "professional critic", I'd have to say, "Yes; under certain circumstances, they do influence me."

Other "pros"? Not so likely.

A few are likely to influence me, but in the opposite direction they intended. (I know they tend to like things that I have discovered that I don't like.)

Peer reviews? If there are enough of them, and if they tend to agree, rather than be scattered.

[Glenn E.]

Only a little bit. With the exception of Roy, whose palate I understand and respect, I don't have that much respect for most professional critics' palates. It seems to me that most of them don't really understand Port and it often shows in their ratings.

I have a lot more respect for peer reviews and ratings, probably because I know the people involved and also understand their likes and dislikes better than those of some anonymous (to me) professional. Rune and I rate very similarly - our scores paralleled each other for almost the entire Port Harvest Tour. There were at most a handful of Ports on which we did not agree in relative terms. (I tend to rate about 3 points higher than Rune, but our ratings move up and down in lock step.) There are others whose palates I have come to understand, too, which allows me to interpret their TNs in a beneficial way.

[Eric Menchen]

Yes, their scores influence my buying decisions, but for Port it is more of an indirect influence. Critic A gives Port B a 100 point score, and the price of Port B goes through the roof. I don't think Port B is worth the now inflated price, so I don't buy it. Critic A has now influenced my buying decision.

For wine styles and regions I'm not that familiar with, I have to admit I do look at scores. I wish it were not the case. But with thousands of wines out there, I can't say I know what they are all like, so scores come into play. This mostly happens when I get an e-mail offer about a wine I know nothing about. If there are multiple low scores, I just ignore it. If there are good scores, I might do more research. Even then, I don't often make a purchase. I guess the score is a filter. Most of my wine buying is targeted to things I know, so scores aren't such a factor.

Now for Port, I do read the notes in the TNDB from Roy and others, in particular for a bottle I'm not familiar with. Since I've tasted with Roy and read many of his notes, his scores carry some weight. I give weight to just about everyone else around here too. But I'm not splitting hairs. If two people say something is an 88, I'm not going to pay a lot for it. But if one person says 90 and another 96, I don't really get worked up over that. It probably could be something I'm going to like a lot, or maybe not, but worth trying. In this case, I'm probably going to go more on what the people wrote about and compare that to my tastes.

I did some beer judging this weekend. For the first beer of the first flight I judged, all three of us scored the beer a 27, on a scale from 1 to 50. "Woohoo, we're done!" The next few beers we scored within a few points of each other. Then we tasted a beer where we were off by more than 10 points. So we had to discuss that one. My point? Even when judging to a standard, tastes and perceptions can vary.

[Jim R.]

Absolutely if there is a verbal write-up provided. Then I can assess their comments and throw out the "hedonistic" ones when applied to table wines. I wish more write-ups contained the alc content but the vagueness of the labeling laws make most of those content numbers unreliable anyway. There are palates out there that I respect, yes including Roy's, but after sampling some 100 point wines, there are definitely some I ignore (mostly). Since I cannot taste every wine in the world and can only afford to buy a few I definitely use the critics as a filter. I definitely hate it when one rates a wine very highly that I had intended to buy but after the price hikes (Taylor and Fonseca 1994s) I can't justify the new prices. A question for the group would be which critics do you trust? My trust goes to Roy, Dan Berger, and James Halliday. No trust to Parker and the Wine Spectator. I like the world-wide coverage that the Wine Spectator has but you have to interpret their comments rather than relying on their scores. Above all else, when you find a purchase interest that is actually available in your area, taste before you buy any quantity. If it is going to be a "one-off" purchase then go ahead on "spec". Regards.

[Eric Menchen]

A question for the group would be which critics do you trust?

After Roy, probably Richard Mayson.

[Paul Fountain]

Generally, where possible, I'll try before I buy, either by attending tastings or visiting individual producers. In these cases I'll sometimes use the critics to validate my assessment of ageworthiness, but if I've tasted something that is a whole lot better than somebody telling how it tastes. I'll also place my trust in producers who have consistently produced excellent product.
Specifically with Port, I only started my collection last year, so much of what I've purchased I haven't tried. I've relied heavily on the tasting note database as well as Roy's vintage reports Occasionally I'll read what Jancis Robinson or Sarah Ahmed have to say as well.

[Lamont Huxley]

Yes, their scores influence my buying decisions, but for Port it is more of an indirect influence. Critic A gives Port B a 100 point score, and the price of Port B goes through the roof. I don't think Port B is worth the now inflated price, so I don't buy it. Critic A has now influenced my buying decision.

I'm with you on that one Eric. That's really the only way that any professional critic influences my buying decisions. At the end of the day, no matter who's reviewing the wine, it's still just one person's opinion, and unless they've sampled multiple bottles, bottle variation could come into play as well.

[Jeff G.]

I liek the peer reviews,

if every one says it's good, I'll happily go out and pick up the bottle.

the scores though as a few posters mentioned only indirectly influence via potential price increases.

[Tom Archer]

I have very little time for the views of the jack-of-all-trades wine critics, as they are so frequently wide of the mark with port. In fact they are a bit of a nuisance, as their edicts cause price ramping for the fortunate, and hurt for the worthy..

I tend to find my own assessment of VP's to be broadly in tune with Roy's, which makes it useful to check Roy's impressions when considering a port I've yet to try. Richard Mayson's role as a historian is invaluable; but I find his palate to be on a slightly different plane to mine.

Although strictly an amateur, the diligence of Alex Bridgeman when tasting makes his notes particularly useful.

Tom

[Russ K]

aboslutely, more on the low end of scoring than the high, to weed out things not to buy.

Plus I find I do correlate to certain critics tastes in general. Similar to Parker, I have a soft spot for CdP, Spain ,etc...grenache based vinos...so I do look to those ratings on european wines to help me pick things to try...

Also I do look at consistency among critics, if 5 different advocates vote reasonably high scores and relatively consistent on a wine, then its probably worth a try.

I do not pay too much attention in stores when they have a tag from one usually unknown name critic I never have even heard of...

For Ports I do not look anywhere but here.

[Moses Botbol]

aboslutely, more on the low end of scoring than the high, to weed out things not to buy.

Same here; I pay more attention to peer reviews on FTLOP than big name critics outside of Michael Broadbent. I find Michael Broadbent's taste falls in line with mine. Having the privilege to drink port with several forum members and knowing what their taste is like, I can gauge how a port should taste to me.

Generally, unless there's a consensus that a port is garbage, I am going to buy it either way.

[Roy Hersh]

Many fascinating points of view above ... keep 'em coming.

[John M.]

When it comes to Port, I really look here--we're all pulling in the same direction and there are no "agendas" other than let's enjoy our port to the fullest.

Unless it is a low score, I'll still usually buy if a decent/reasonable value.

As to our TNs, I find I've got to read them because not everyone post Numbers and a few use a 20 point scale. We can debate the merits of the 20 point versus 100 point system but it would be nicer if we all used the same system to have some consistency for quick glances. (and yes, I'd still read them)

[Andy Velebil]

Some interesting answers....

For me the answer is yes and no.

Some critics I completely ignore as I feel they don't really grasp Port and often give ratings on one end of the spectrum or the other when they really should be somewhere in the middle. But a few critics i do trust and have no issues using their tasting notes and scores on things I've not yet tried myself.

As far as scores alone, no, I rarely look just at the scores. To me the tasting note is most important and is far more helpful in the long run and scores come second.

As far as peer reviews, I've been very lucky to have enjoyed many fine wines and Port with serious lovers of Douro products who really know their stuff and have palates that align with mine. Those people I do trust and have no issue buying something based on their recommendations. Matter of fact I use peer reviewers for Port FAR more often than professional reviewers. Simply as I've come to learn that very few professional reviewers drink Port but on a rare occasion or when a major declaration occurs and they have to taste the new releases. Those often being only short snap-shot tastings for young and older vintages.

While those peer reviewers I trust are drinking it on at least a weekly basis if not more. So in terms of drinking experience they tend to have more experiences with a large range of Ports from older and newer vintages as a result. Not to mention those peer reviewers having the same Port many many times over, even with older Ports, with experiences sometimes spanning decades.

[Al B.]

I've learnt from experience to ignore almost all critics' opinions when making buying decisions about port. I'll check here and on one other non-producer port web-site for peer reviews (including Roy's reviews) but very much go on personal experience. I've tried ports from most of the main producers and know that I particularly like Graham, Fonseca, Noval and Ferreira. I also know that I love 1963-1991 for current drinking. That makes buying for drinking soon quite easy. I also like to buy unusual bottles that I've not had the chance to try before.

What's more fun is having had the chance to try quite a wide range of new releases over an extended period of 4-5 days to see how they change. I've done this for the 2007-2010 vintages and this has definitely affected my buying decisions.

[Gary Richardson]

I rely almost entirely on the notes from this forum to help make my purchase decisions around Port. I find Roy's notes to be very valuable (which is one of the primary reasons for my membership) along with the notes from the other board posters. Like so many others who have commented in this thread, I find the evaluations of most reviewers to be of significantly less value to me.

In the rare case where I cannot find a tasting note on a specific Port in the TNDB, I will usually take the plunge anyway. This was most recently experienced with my purchase of the 2006 Kopke LBV.

-- Gary

[Roy Hersh]

What did you think of that Kopke 2006 LBV?

[Gary Richardson]

What did you think of that Kopke 2006 LBV?

I haven't opened it, yet, but I will be sure to post a tasting note as soon as I do. It came in a gift box with a bar of chocolate, so I will comment on the pairing as well.

-- Gary