Wine Spectator magazine hoaxed; gives award to non-existent restaurant

Ratings, rankings and awards are everywhere in magazines. But not one in a thousand readers has any idea how rankings or food and wine awards and endorsements are decided (or, perhaps, care).

But that was just the point for wine critic and author Robin Goldstein who confected a non-existent restaurant and hoaxed the Wine Spectator magazine into giving its award of excellence. The embarrassing and probably damaging outcome is detailed in a story in the Los Angeles Times

Milan's Osteria L'Intrepido restaurant won Wine Spectator magazine's award of excellence this year despite a wine list that features a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe S. Sofia, which the magazine once likened to "paint thinner and nail varnish."

Even worse: Osteria L'Intrepido doesn't exist.

To the magazine's chagrin, the restaurant is a Web-based fiction devised by wine critic and author Robin Goldstein, who said he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards.

To pull off the hoax, Goldstein created a bogus website for the restaurant and submitted an application for the award that included a copy of the restaurant’s menu (which he describes as "a fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes") and a high-priced "reserve wine list" well-stocked with dogs like the 1993 Amarone.

The application also included what Goldstein suggests was the key qualification: a $250 entry fee.

"I am interested in what's behind all the ratings and reviews we read. . . . The level of scrutiny is not sufficient," said Goldstein, who revealed the prank while presenting a paper at an American Assn. of Wine Economists meeting in Portland,Ore., last weekend.

Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews denounced Goldstein's actions as a "publicity-seeking scam."

This year, said the article, nearly 4,500 restaurants paid more than $1 million (at $250 each) to enter the awards contest and all but 319 won the award of excellence or some greater kudos.Restaurants typically put up the plaque they receive and use the award as a form of marketing and advertising. Tom Pirko, a beverage industry consultant who lives in Santa Barbara County's wine country, said the hoax would dent the magazine's credibility: "This gives the appearance of paying for advertising disguised as a contest."

Goldstein said he came up with the idea while doing research for an academic paper about the standards for wine awards. He is coauthor of "The Wine Trials," a book that looks at how 500 blind tasters from around the country evaluated 6,000 wines ranging in price from $1.50 to $150 a bottle...

"While Osteria L'Intrepido may be the first to win an award of excellence for an imaginary restaurant," Goldstein said, "it's unlikely that it was the first submission that didn't accurately reflect the restaurant."