If The Dallas Wine Store Review (fictional publication) had written the above in its review of LCB, how much trust would you place in that review compared to the same statement written by LCB in a paid advertisement placed in the Dallas Morning News? Put another way, who are you going to believe when it comes to knowing how good a washing machine performs--the salesman or Consumer Reports?
BusinessDictionary.com defines shelf-talkers as a "printed card or other sign attached to a store shelf to call buyers' attention to a particular product displayed on that shelf." You have seen these at all the wine stores, and they can and should be helpful to consumers. The problem is that many wine departments have poor or non existent shelf-talker policies. This means that the shelf talkers they allow are meaningless for consumers.
Shelf talkers from wineries will always tell you that their wines are good. Shelf talkers from wine marketing events (competitions) are dubious. Shelf talkers from wine department managers can be very helpful--maybe the most helpful; however, keep in mind the information I provided in my previous blog post about wine department staff.
This being the case, whose shelf talkers should you believe? At LCB I only allow shelf talkers from five publications: Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate primarily but also International Wine Cellar, Pinot Report, and Burghound. These publications have been around for many years and have highly educated and experienced staff. Wine Spectator was founded in 1976 and Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate was founded in 1978 (Parker has had biographies and documentaries written about him). Gregory Walter is the writer, editor, and publisher of Pinot Report, and he had a 14 year career with Wine Spectator. Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar was founded in 1985. Allen Meadows' Burghound has been in existence since 2000.
All of these publications take a consumer advocate position. They all conduct blind tastings, and none use tasting panels. Tasting panels are used, for example, by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. This magazine has great articles by educated staff. But when it comes to reviewing wines it uses a tasting panel. Here is what Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) has to say about tasting panels (and I agree):
"Wines of great individuality and character rarely win a committee tasting because there is going to be at least one taster who will find something objectionable about the wines. Therefore, tasting panels, where all grades are averaged, frequently appear to find wines of great individuality unusual. Can anyone name just one of the world's greatest red or white wines that is produced by the consensus of a committee [?]...The opinion of an individual taster, despite that taster's prejudices and predilections, if reasonably informed and comprehensive, is always a far greater guide to the ultimate quality of the wine than that of a committee. At least the reader knows where the individual stands, whereas with a committee, one is never quite sure."
After conducting my own research in three separate years I found that for the vast majority of wines, Wine Enthusiast gave these wines a higher numerical rating than did any of the above recommended publications. This continues to be the case today whenever I compare the numerical ratings of these publications for the same wine. It may still be the case that its tasting panel approves wines that a separate taster will then sample in order to rate it and write the review. In this case it is very understandable why its numerical ratings are higher: the psychological affect upon the final taster of a panel having already approved the wine adds a few (or many) more points to the wine's rating.
I say all this, along with what I said in my previous blog post, in order to give you the understanding of how I do my job as a beer and wine director: I do my job as your advocate. For 12 years in the industry, I have performed my job as a consumer advocate. Therefore, I think a lot about all the details of managing a wine department--all the details that must be performed properly so that they all benefit the consumer. Shelf-talkers, then, are used by all wine departments, but not all wine departments (probably most) have a working theory about why and how these should be used to benefit consumers.
Along with using some shelf-talkers by the recommended publications, many wine departments use this combination of shelf-talkers:
- Winery provided shelf-talkers written by the wine maker or, more likely, by the marketing department: "This wine is always good."
- Wine competitions: Just about all wines win one competition or another.
- Shelf-talkers from lesser quality review publications. Not necessarily bad quality, but not the best.
Also, there are rare occasions when, after having tasted a wine, I completely disagree with a poor review by one of the recommended publications. I have to be absolutely sure that what I am tasting would be pleasurable to my customers, but if I am, I will ignore a poor review and write my own Rick's Pick review on a shelf-talker.
This last point concerns Las Colinas Beverages' philosophy to wine retailing. We are a store that is committed to high industry standards of service and knowledge; we take a consumer advocate position, and we are not afraid to proclaim our own judgements of quality based on thoughtful criteria that we can explain.
What Numerical Ratings Mean
95 - 100 = Classic
90 - 94 = Outstanding
85 - 89 = Very good
80 - 84 = Good
75 - 79 = Mediocre
50 - 74 = Not recommended
The vast majority of the good quality-to-price ratio wines are usually found within the 85 to 90 range.
Cheers,
Rick