The Review Process: The Cuvée Corner Wine Blog does not perform blind tastings, I've however participated in many blind tastings and my results are always the same, I pick winners. Many think price influences judgment; but not in my case; quality and price are my key influences. That said; all wines sent for the review process, received as samples; are evaluated in a similar vein as any consumer would, after purchasing a bottle to take home. I uncork an hour before dinner, decant if needed, slurp, write notes, sample with prepared meal, write notes, slurp some after dinner, write final note.
Trade Events: I attend many large trade events, where I swoosh, swish, slurp and spit quickly. I then write some hasty notes and move onto the next table. This process affords me to get a quick impression of a wine overall characteristics and quality; this fact is noted in the review. I attend at least 5 major wine trade shows each year. Plus I always go to a Wine Bloggers Conference to experience a new region each year, where I can have an opportunity to sample a large variety of the new vintages, across the board.
Straight Shooter: I consider every wine sample, trade tasting, or purchase on its own merits, and unlike some "publications" I take into account QPR, [Quality Price Ratio] report the results as is, with no spin, no hype and no guile . Most to the wines I review are purchased for my own personal use, I'm a "every day wine drinker", so contrary to popular belief I'm not just in it for the samples.
Wine Subjectivity: Many of my fellow vinosapiens out there are laboring under what I believe is a false premise [IMHO]. What is that you may ask? Well I will lay it on the line; the premise that all wine is created equal. Umm, there's no other way to say it, that claim or belief is total nonsense. In my view that notion is patently false, it's engendered from a sense of wanting to have the appearence of f"airness" [remember nobody said life would be fair]. As I always say; let each wine compete on its own merits and let the chips fall where they may; that's the fair thing to do.
Palate Progression: In my opinion it takes time to build a palate [an opinion by the way shared my many], I like to think of it as a taste muscle [hello 750ml curls]. I'll admit it, I started out with a pedestrian palate, but I didn't know it, I was taken in by simple wines. But through constant tasting, exploring new wines and education I figured out one important thing, not all wines are equal. That said, some wine is just plonk, while some wines are Über fantastic, where price is not always a determining factor.
Regarding Samples: While it would be an honor to accept a sample of your wine, book or product for review, I can't guarantee a positive review or even a review at all if the wine in question is not worthy of this blogs tag-line; "The intersection of where great wine meets reasonable prices". What does that mean? Well, if it receives a score of 84 or lower than I most likely will not bother writing a review. Here's what I can definitely promise; each and every sample will get a thoughtful, respectful, and authentic assessment of the product presented for the review process.
Full Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure, I do make mention in the review that product was indeed a sample. Second, I will contact the folks who sent the sample as courtesy to let you know that review has been published. If the wine sent for review will not be published I will also send notice of that fact.
Receipt of Sample: I like to wait a few weeks before I open the bottle for review. This gives the wine a chance to recover from travel, resulting in a much better assessment of the wine. Often times I will have more wine at one time than I can review in a reasonable [meaning it may take a few weeks longer to write the review] time frame, so if a timely review is needed or desired please indicate that fact with your submission. Once I finish the review, I will send an email to let you know that it has been posted.
The score: Yes, I use the 100 point scale, if this makes you unhappy or you disagree with that method, well that’s unfortunate. Sorry to say, there will be no smiley faces, stars or grades, just cold hard numbers [ouch]. The score of wine will break down this way; I give every wine a base point score of 50 points from there, I add the following:
Aroma: Up to 10 points
Flavor: Up to 10 points
Texture: Up to 10 points
Overall: Up to 10 points
Finally I also use QPR [quality, price, and ratio] score of up to 5 points.
What the scores mean:
95-100 Epic: Will you marry me?
90-94 Wine-tastic Juice: Wanna meet my folks?
85-89 Very Good: Hey, can I call you tomorrow?
80-84 Okay: Opps, looks like I lost your number.
75-79 Marginal: Um what was your name again? [will not be reviewed]
50-74 Dreadful: Umm why was this bottled? Not even recommended for Vinegar. [will not be reviewed]
Regarding Publishing: The review will appear on my Cuvée Corner Wine Blog, Wine-Miles and will be found on my Wine 2.0 page, Facebook page and I will post it on Twitter for nearly 8000 tweeps, who incidentally are mostly cork dorks like me. What this means your brand; quite a bit of FREE advertising and a huge spotlight on your brand for a few days and in many cases proven traffic to your site and yes you may even start to hear those cash registers ring.
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