@@KonstantinBaumMasterofWine If Robert doesn't die before that ... sorry, I heard his health isn't the best anymore, but I wish you all the best and getting RP on by 1M subs video celebration could be fucking epic!
Would be nice though I think a video with Jane Anson or Jancis Robinson would be so much cooler. Or with a wine producer from the Ahr talking about how things are post-2021.
@@therealgoody No it's not. I have served wines blind with an MW as one of the guests. He correctly indentified not only the commune but the wine itself. In this case it was a 1976 Les Forts de Latour from Pauillac.
I correctly guessed that the first wine was Cinsault from looking at the colour and listening to his tasting note. I went with that in part because he was unsure it was of the grape varieties he mentioned. I guessed that the second wine was Pontet Canet by assuming they wouldn’t have bought a first growth and, from that, knowing of the few non-first growth Pauillacs that have been given 100pts, and that are readily available at a reasonable price. The point to know with this is that experienced wine drinkers will draw on perhaps unexpected factors to zone in on what a mystery wine is. I’ve previously correctly guessed mystery wines based substantially on what I know about the person who brought it, with the taste confirming my reasoning.
And South Africa catches Konstantin off guard once more 😂. It’s so ironic that if you get something wrong, mostly the country of origin is South Africa 😅
Very fun video Konstantin! i think the harder thing about scoring wine is how our tastes change over time. I used to LOVE the big bold meaty wines and now prefer a balanced Riesling or Gewurztraminer. What I scored 95 back in the day may be a 90 now. And what is a 95 now may be 100 in the years to come. But that is OK. As you say, recognizing quality is more important. "Is this a well made 'X' that shows the character of the grape and the place" is more important than if I like it. But preferences always sneak in there because we are human (or, in your case, superhuman)
You should do a series of these types of tastings of wines reviewed by influential critics. Next one on South American Bordeaux blends where you have to find the one James Suckling rated below 98 points.
Im taking my CMS lvl 1 in 2 days . Thank you for all your stuff !! It’s really helped me to find adjetives and understand a lot more about wine ! You’re the man
Awesome video! Your views on tasting, I feel, are spot on. You clearly know your gear but we are all different. Thanks again and hello from Vancouver BC
I think it's good when there's a bit of agreement between real wine experts; reassuring for people like me, who need a bit of guidance when buying. Nice one Konstantin! Cheers. 🍷🌟👍
Since wines get exponentially more expensive with the Parker and/or Wine Spectator points they receive, the most important thing for anyone to find value in wine is to identify the critic with whom your taste agrees most.
What a great tasting! I love your blind tastings so i can try to deduce what they are with your tasting clues, I pointed to Grenache/Cinsault as a possibility in the first one since I was in a tasting in Chile last year of Pinots and 2 wines were Cinsault which had more green notes/wild friut character than what you usually get from a Pinot. Cheers from Argentina!
Spot on the comment about the importance of quality over location in tasting !!! This was one of the best videos ever, with lots of educational stuff ! As a old follower , I notice that the South African wine was again a struggle to spot . And I think there is really hard to sport them , cause they are a mix between old and new world , more than often tasting like old world . Cheers !
Your description of the 100, was so well described and analyzed that I was sure it was a Pauillac, yet your 'green pepper' detail made me fear it could have been a haut-medoc, where I would recognize that tendency as one to include some sociando-mallet years, which my mouth is not fond of, and to my appreciation could by no means justify ever a '100' mark. This sent me back to a Pauillac and downplayed the pepper note... When you confirmed the Pauillac Appelation, I was hyper happy to hear it was a Pontet Canet, which ranks as my very favourite wines. Congratulations! Such a Great Wine!!!. Thank You !!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this tasting! I appreciated your harsh and direct approach to scoring these wines that weren't worthy AND the praise heaped on to the wines that did deserve praise. I generally like the 100pt scoring system. It's a good way to determine value and if a wine is worthy of more research.
@darillus1 Depending on the reviewer and their commitment to "looking" back at the bottle after x number of years, it certainly can. Now, if you're asking if a higher score is given due to the wine's perceived longevity, I would assume this might be a small factor(2-4 points). But keep in mind, a well structured wine, with balanced fruit, acidity and tannins will ultimately score higher. And those factors already contributes to a more age-worthy wine.
I actually really enjoy the fact that you seem to be a bit more harsh in your criticism of wines. Makes the ones which do get an outstanding rating from you seem like they're truly worth it.
You beat me to the punch on this video theme! Nice tasting and way to get to everything. I too agree that in blind tasting, quality is the most important thing. I thing blind tasting is extremely useful when you are in a theme, like tasting through the same varieties or similar blends. Nice video
Great blind tasting! Scores to me are nice gauges as long as you are familiar with the persons palate who's doing the scoring. With everyone's palate being completely different and then the differences of the day, mood and everything else, sometimes it can be "your guess is as good as mine". But in the end, it helps to know that "experts" have given a score that me the novice can look at quickly and help me decide with my wallet. Subscribed!
Great video and as you say for the consumer it hopefully gives an indication of the quality of the wine. I have been lucky to be able to travel and go to vineyards/wineries and find wines that I enjoyed from Bergerac, Margaret River, and the Okanagen BC areas which very rarely make it over here, and it is the same with some European countries as there is so much to explore and find out if you can.
Big fun again ! Nice there was a Fitou in the row ! And Badenhurst I also would rate lower. But, yeah, it's personal. Keep up the good work, dear wine-collegue. Greetz from NL !
Great perspective, Konstantin. Many wines are perfect = 99-100. Nothing wrong! Great wines are above scoring, even if flawed in some bad vintages. Really Rare ones can blast the scorer to heaven. Scores. The real fun is being amazed beyond scores. THANK YOU
Super cool video Konstantin! In the end what matters is how the wine tastes for you, and if you like it. Sure sometimes I’ll grab a wine because it has been awarded a high score, but it’s not a necessity in my opinion.
I love this video. It’s so interesting to watch you figure out what you’re drinking. You narrow and narrow until you find the exact place. Just amazing. It would be cool to do a video of you blind tasting of wines you’ve already rated in previous videos to see if it’s consistent or if it’s changed.
Great tasting as always. Very entertaining. As for scores? I wish I didn't rely on them as much as I do, but I can't deny looking at them and being influenced. I've tasted that Dr. Bürklin-Wolf wine, and agree it is fantastic.
Konstantin what an epic tasting, I love this format and ur tasting abilities are superb 🍷👌... Quickly looks at Google for prices of the Pauillac 😂... Cheers 👍
It is crazy that through this video I discovered that my wife has in depth knowledge of wines..she guessed the exact region correctly for 2 out of 4 wines including the Pauillac..thanks dor this video!
Great video. You raised a very important point today regarding the 70-79 point range being called “average” despite the fact that by the numbers, this range doesn’t capture the mean of a bell curve of all the Parker ratings.
Thanks Konstantin, another great video. For me if there is one caveat here, it’s don’t always go blindly with a wine rating. I am pleased that you stuck to your guns with the Cinsault. Wine rating should be always used just as a guide; after all we all like different things. Some like marmite with other hate it. I tend to go with a wine critic with whom I appear to have a similar pallet. Pontet Canet by the way is a wonderful wine but like all great Bordeaux wines, is slowly going beyond the reach of most consumers. Perhaps a series of videos on affordable variations of the classics from around the world? Thank goodness, great Riesling is still reachable :-)
Thanks for another great video Konstantin! I have a great idea for one of your next videos to invite a very talented certified water sommelier in Germany, Timo Bausch, for us to find out the best water types for different wines.
Good video! It would be interesting to learn how much you, and we if we get inspired, would need to pay for the wine that you taste. Of course, I can look it up myself, but im sure you have the information at hand. Keep them coming!
Heh, for once I ID'd a wine that you didn't - my mind went straight to cinsault for #1. But yeah, I can see how it won't be most people's first guess. I think I'll arrange something similar with our own wine guide from Chile (trying to find the 95-90-85 point wine, for example), I think it'd be really fun to challenge myself with that. Excellent video, as usual!
Scores? When I started to get into wine they were a guide, I found critics whose palate seemed to align to mine and used them to help me make choices. Now after some additional training I use them as a reference if multiple critics have scored the wine but more often I use back label, a trusted shop employee or importer as my guide. Great video.
Nice Video!! 🍷🥂🍾 I only trust my palate as a wine professional, but I use scorings as a guide to try new wines which I don't know (Kind of like a Phone contacts book) 🙂
Hi Konstantin - great vid! Cinsault is somewhat of a local hero here in SA with there being some truly excellent examples, the Ringmuur being one of them, even catching 'Wine of the Year' from Tim Atkin in his SA Report for the 2018. I don't think you got it wrong, mind you - your comment about 'my taste...' sums it up. I think it would make a great video reviewing some 'blending varieties' that have blown up in local environments... I mean, just look at Malbec! Other local versions of Cinsault I urge you to try: Van Loggerenberg Geronimo (personal favourite) Sadie Pofadder (widely considered 'the best') Badenhorst Ramnasgras (Ringmuur is a tiny bottling from a tiny vineyard, made particularly light in style) Bosman Twyfeling (richer expression) Scions of Sinai Heldervallei (young winemaker - particularly good terroir expression) (Gabriels are my only glass, and I use a Laguiole too, lol) (oh, and we cracked an '84 Pontet a few weeks ago.... mindblowing!)
I think scores can be helpful especially when you are seeking wine that you may not be too familiar with. I do think that they can be skewed and can leave some diamonds in the rough that are good to great but are not scored correctly. Like most things, read many reviews, sample as much as you can, and develop your own barometer for wine that you like.
Really cool series of tastings vs critics. It should be noted that Robert Parker himself stopped tasting in 2019 and in the years prior to his retirement he was doing almost exclusively Bordeaux and Napa Valley cabs. Would be fun to do "like for like" ie taste the wines Parker himself rated to get a gauge of the critic's palate vs yours.
I agree with your assessment of the wines and demonstrating why, when tasting, you need to evaluate the structure, texture, mouthfeel and length of a wine. I tell this to 'new' tasters of wine and comment that the main thing for them is how does the wine 'feel' to them? Does the smell, palate and finish impress you that you may want to taste it again or is it just 'not to their liking'. I ask my clients to go with their first impression but say over time they will recognise quality as they develop their palate and begin to understand the difference between a 'simple' wine and one that has complexity, just like the 2010 Pontet-Canet you described, a great year and an impressive wine coming from a 5ème Cru Classé.
Great video. I believe the intention of ratings and points began as a good idea to help people however, like all good things, it got exploited even by its inventor unfortunately. For me, now that I have much more experience and enjoy finding my own gems, I wish the ratings were less up front. Conversely, I enjoy doing my own tastings and rating wines just as you e done so the ratings actually help in that case. So for me they don’t help me choose but they provide a type of benchmark that I can have some fun with. Keep up the great content Konstantin! Cheers!
It lends a lot of credence to the scoring system that you guessed with 100% accuracy, but also leaves room for taste and subjectivity with the 90 pointer. Very cool
I’m not so sure about that. He was given the 4 scores upfront and just had to match them to the wines. I think the outcome would have been more interesting if he had been asked what Parker had scored them without the knowledge he was given here.
It's always valuable to find a 100 or near 100 point wine for less than $300. The Pontet-Canet is my next target! Happy to know this now, thank you and to Leon.
Leon, is really good at picking out wine's. Ponte - canet, was my favorit wine as a teen. it just got hit with the Bordeaux curse. 200e in Denmark, finde it hard to justify.. but its one that i will have to retaste soon . And the GG riesling.. yummy all there is to day about that wine 😁
I think that this tasting and his breakdown of Parker’s scores suggest that there’s huge variation with wines rated 85-91. I’ve often wondered about this. Different critics seem to rate wines very differently in that range. I wonder if the data shows this?
Fantastic tasting, well done. It's also good to get the profile of some very nice wines. I collect spirits as well as wine and different folk use different scoring methods including ABCDE (with plus and minuses); 1-5; 1-10 and 1-100 which operates like the Parker point scoring and the one I use. I think it's a bit more fun because you have a few more points to play with. I don't deliberately buy mediocre stuff so I'm hoping for at least an 85 and that would be a good value drink. Below 85 but not lower than 80 would indicate something slightly disappointing but still good. Anything above 92 has to be seriously good. Most whisky scorers never go above 98 and that would be perceived an exceptionally rare classic from a bygone era. Nothing get's scored 99 or 100 because that level of perfection is unobtainable. What this means is that most of my whisky scores have a range of about 10 points out of the entire 100. I think with wine we are a bit more forgiving and I often see wines scoring Parker points of 94 which really don't deserve it. I'll also buy an 82 point wine and rate it as good value if it's cheap. The big issue is whether we should score for what's in the bottle only or price/quality. Cheers. WT
After 7 years of selling luxury wines in Napa, I found scores to be frustrating when discussing wines to customers. Everyone wants to get a hold of 98+ point wines, but sometimes there are some exceptional wines that get scored in the lower to mid 90s. Now that I have moved away from that region, I do believe that consumers do need guidance when purchasing wine without being able to taste them, as well as discovering new high quality producers. Having my own family wine label now, scores are essential to our success and help to bring in new business. Loved this video very much and am now a firm believer in the scoring process.
Great tasting and insight. I do use points ratings, mostly of understand higher quality from regions or producers. It’s stands to reason that we don’t always agree100% with the ratings. It is a pretty good gauge of quality perspective from tasters that regularly have exposure to tasting professionally.
Scores mean a lot for me, if they are coming from the right critic. I just started with wine one year ago, so I definitely needed guidance. I started with Vivino scores, but those are 100% useless. Wine advocate scores are often in the lower end and it helped me with my first purchases. Now I trust my palate much more, but for me it was good that my developing palate was calibrated by critic scores.
Fun video. Thanks. I like the scores, but keep in mind I need to discount some of them. A James Suckling 92, is usually more like a 90 IMO. Also, I need to remind myself those scores are only for particular vintages, but they are advertised on bottles regardless of vintage. Cheers.
This is a really interesting topic. I have to score a lot of wines on a regular basis and I have a lot to say about this experience. Maybe enough for several RUclips clips (I do not have a channel though). I remember tasting my first RP100 wine (I did not know it was RP100, but I rushed to check the score right after the tasting). It was Chateau Climens 2001, tasted in 2005.
I think scores can be useful when you find someone whose tastes are similar to yours that scores wine to figure out what you also may like, but you have to take them with a grain of salt as they also involve the taster’s personal preferences.
To quote approximately what RP said on the front cover of every issue of his Wine Advocate (in the days when I subscribed): the written comments are my main way of conveying my assessment, rather than the score. Wise words. If you get used to a particular critic’s scores fair enough but what he/ she says means the most. As on your vid, indeed - what you said about the top wine made me want to get my hands on a bottle, never mind the score.
Konstantin, how about you put together in NYC a dinner for your channel subscribers with wine. Flat prix fixe. Would be excited to come up from Philly. It would be a memorable experience. All of your videos are uplifting and make me smile!
Great video, and i agree that as a consumer it's more important to be able to bling taste quality rather than know the exact cepage and producer. However, I thought the scoring system was based on how typical a wine is of its particular variety and location, so that confused me a little. thanks
For the distribution of scores, I think you also should take into consideration the distribution of wines tasted by Robert Parker. If wines around 90 are the ones that tend to rise up to be tasted, that would affect the distribution of scores.
I am Euro and love Euro wines and not much American ones, though I have tried a LOT of both, including the big stuff like 1.Crus and Dominus, Opus1, Caymus SS, Colgin, Stag23 etc. I love RP and WS cause if you take THEIR take on Euro wines, they were at least in the past, NEVER inflated and usually they disagreed, so take (RP+WS)/2 of any Red Bx, between say 1995-2010 then you'll notice VERY few 98+ wines on that scale. And those that DID make that scale were freaking epic, when I tasted them - If I gotta go with one reference, I go with Decanter 97+ and crosscheck if WS/RP gave it minimum 94.
@@bonwatcher Interesting, but how does Suckling being the former European Chief of WS has to do with my take on rating accuracy? WS seems to me to be a group effort anyway. For example, I often disagree with Parker's rating, even though Parker has been around much longer. Maybe Suckling's taste is more aligned with mine because he married an Asian, who knows? LOL. Whose rating do you find yourself agreeing with more?
@@Birdylockso barath4545 saying he follows WS and RP and takes the average and his timeline of 1995- 2010 matches Suckling's time with WS, so I was just saying you guys both use Suckling's scoring as a barometer. Agreeing with someone's palate and ratings is something you learn over time and I agree that Suckling's ratings and notes are also more in line with a lot of my impressions of the same wines. I think RP sometimes gives some over generous scores, but he definitely has a good palate tasting wines.
A very nice video, thanks a lot! Answering your question: Scores are "Fluch und Segen" a double edged sword. For one, like you said it always is a matter of your own taste, the taste of the buyer. But for me even more important, is the "why" and "when" do I open the wine. With 100 Points wines you might mostly be right, you WILL impress your guests and your self. It's a lot more difficult with wines which in the RP scale are rated around 90 Points. I had 100 Point Moments with Silvaner Ortswein or a rather simple Riesling Kabinett, because they were exactly at the right place to the right time. On the other hand, I had 85 Point moments with quite expensive and highly rated wines, opened at the wrong moment.
I think the scores are helpful understanding that they are just a guide that gives me a range to consider if I don’t know the wine. I will try the Pontet
Growing up, my parents would allow me an ounce or two of wine at age 12 or 14. It was a good thing. Taught me that wine wasn't about boozing it up but about enjoying the flavor. I'm sure it started with me trying a sip out of one of their glasses and rejecting it. Then on another occasion I got brave enough to ask to try a little more. Then every time we had certain meals I wanted a little.
I let my daughter start tasting at dinner here and there way before her 21st birthday. She now appreciates good wine and knows how to pace herself. Maybe you can ask for a sip to taste and spit out😂
@@ghettobougieahjoomab8663 perhaps lol. i have before, always just tasted like gasoline with a hint of grape juice. but it is something i definitely want to acquire as my palette develops
I have a contrary streak...if Parker rates a wine at 100 points, I'll nit-pick it to death if I have a chance to drink it. Big "if". (Personally, I'd take the Burklin-Wolf!)
That was a fun format. Leon did a fine job choosing those wine. The ID of the the Pfalz GG was impressive even if from a classic producer. Scoring is a useful tool if utilized with objective rigor and accounting for variables. The system 10, 20, 100 isn't the important part. It is what best works for you to categorize relative quality differences as you perceive them. It will guide your repurchases, future choices and cellar investments. Few others will ever care about your score, so you do it for your own enrichment. There is only one Robert Parker and more importantly, only one Konstantin Baum!
Nice video, thank you. You don't really speak of length here, which for me is a clear indicator of relative quality. Any particular reason? Or perhaps you normally do in your other videos. Either way, looking forward to catching up on your back catalogue.
I knew chances were near zero, however for a very brief moment, I really hoped to see Parker in Person sitting next to Konstantin 😅
One day! 😉
Me too!
@@KonstantinBaumMasterofWine If Robert doesn't die before that ... sorry, I heard his health isn't the best anymore, but I wish you all the best and getting RP on by 1M subs video celebration could be fucking epic!
Me too lol
Would be nice though I think a video with Jane Anson or Jancis Robinson would be so much cooler. Or with a wine producer from the Ahr talking about how things are post-2021.
It's still insane to me that someone can drink a bottle of wine and identify the village where it came from. Nice video!
@@therealgoody No it's not. I have served wines blind with an MW as one of the guests. He correctly indentified not only the commune but the wine itself. In this case it was a 1976 Les Forts de Latour from Pauillac.
@@therealgoody It`s definitively not. Real big wine nerds can actually pull it off after enough experience
I correctly guessed that the first wine was Cinsault from looking at the colour and listening to his tasting note. I went with that in part because he was unsure it was of the grape varieties he mentioned.
I guessed that the second wine was Pontet Canet by assuming they wouldn’t have bought a first growth and, from that, knowing of the few non-first growth Pauillacs that have been given 100pts, and that are readily available at a reasonable price. The point to know with this is that experienced wine drinkers will draw on perhaps unexpected factors to zone in on what a mystery wine is. I’ve previously correctly guessed mystery wines based substantially on what I know about the person who brought it, with the taste confirming my reasoning.
Hahahahahahahahaha @@digitalis909
And South Africa catches Konstantin off guard once more 😂. It’s so ironic that if you get something wrong, mostly the country of origin is South Africa 😅
Very fun video Konstantin! i think the harder thing about scoring wine is how our tastes change over time. I used to LOVE the big bold meaty wines and now prefer a balanced Riesling or Gewurztraminer. What I scored 95 back in the day may be a 90 now. And what is a 95 now may be 100 in the years to come. But that is OK. As you say, recognizing quality is more important. "Is this a well made 'X' that shows the character of the grape and the place" is more important than if I like it. But preferences always sneak in there because we are human (or, in your case, superhuman)
Fantastic video - enjoyed it a lot - thank you very much!!
Incredible blind tasting master class! Thank you, Konstantin ❤
You should do a series of these types of tastings of wines reviewed by influential critics. Next one on South American Bordeaux blends where you have to find the one James Suckling rated below 98 points.
😁
One of your best videos yet. Many thanks.
Nice to see the Gabriel Glas getting a run, the handmade ‘gold edition’ are next level - and a spectacular champagne glass!
Im taking my CMS lvl 1 in 2 days . Thank you for all your stuff !! It’s really helped me to find adjetives and understand a lot more about wine ! You’re the man
Very exciting video! Thank you Herr Baum!
Right now the best content maker on all the wine world. congrats. been keeping up with you since the beginning
Great video Konstantin, thank you
Really cool tasting. Waiting already your next one!
Thanks Konstantin - I enjoyed this video immensely. I'll even be in Ruppertsberg at the weekend, so I'll visit the winery for sure.
Very good content. I enjoy this one a lot. Good job, master!
Brilliant show, thank you an amazing educational experience.
This is my favourite type of video from you Konstantin. I like all you videos but these blind tastings are the best. Keep it up.
Awesome video! Your views on tasting, I feel, are spot on. You clearly know your gear but we are all different. Thanks again and hello from Vancouver BC
Really enjoyed this. Love to know your background into wine
I think it's good when there's a bit of agreement between real wine experts; reassuring for people like me, who need a bit of guidance when buying. Nice one Konstantin! Cheers. 🍷🌟👍
Since wines get exponentially more expensive with the Parker and/or Wine Spectator points they receive, the most important thing for anyone to find value in wine is to identify the critic with whom your taste agrees most.
Great video, as always!
What a great tasting! I love your blind tastings so i can try to deduce what they are with your tasting clues, I pointed to Grenache/Cinsault as a possibility in the first one since I was in a tasting in Chile last year of Pinots and 2 wines were Cinsault which had more green notes/wild friut character than what you usually get from a Pinot. Cheers from Argentina!
Very nicely done. Really helps break down the myth that experts can’t converge on quality.
Spot on the comment about the importance of quality over location in tasting !!! This was one of the best videos ever, with lots of educational stuff ! As a old follower , I notice that the South African wine was again a struggle to spot . And I think there is really hard to sport them , cause they are a mix between old and new world , more than often tasting like old world . Cheers !
Your description of the 100, was so well described and analyzed that I was sure it was a Pauillac, yet your 'green pepper' detail made me fear it could have been a haut-medoc, where I would recognize that tendency as one to include some sociando-mallet years, which my mouth is not fond of, and to my appreciation could by no means justify ever a '100' mark. This sent me back to a Pauillac and downplayed the pepper note... When you confirmed the Pauillac Appelation, I was hyper happy to hear it was a Pontet Canet, which ranks as my very favourite wines. Congratulations! Such a Great Wine!!!. Thank You !!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this tasting! I appreciated your harsh and direct approach to scoring these wines that weren't worthy AND the praise heaped on to the wines that did deserve praise.
I generally like the 100pt scoring system. It's a good way to determine value and if a wine is worthy of more research.
does the 100-point system take into consideration aging?
@darillus1 Depending on the reviewer and their commitment to "looking" back at the bottle after x number of years, it certainly can. Now, if you're asking if a higher score is given due to the wine's perceived longevity, I would assume this might be a small factor(2-4 points). But keep in mind, a well structured wine, with balanced fruit, acidity and tannins will ultimately score higher. And those factors already contributes to a more age-worthy wine.
I actually really enjoy the fact that you seem to be a bit more harsh in your criticism of wines. Makes the ones which do get an outstanding rating from you seem like they're truly worth it.
It's almost like shitheads like Parker give high scores to sell wine and keep getting paid to review wines.
You beat me to the punch on this video theme! Nice tasting and way to get to everything. I too agree that in blind tasting, quality is the most important thing. I thing blind tasting is extremely useful when you are in a theme, like tasting through the same varieties or similar blends. Nice video
Great blind tasting! Scores to me are nice gauges as long as you are familiar with the persons palate who's doing the scoring. With everyone's palate being completely different and then the differences of the day, mood and everything else, sometimes it can be "your guess is as good as mine". But in the end, it helps to know that "experts" have given a score that me the novice can look at quickly and help me decide with my wallet. Subscribed!
Glad you found your #4 bag!
I love your videos Konstantin. It’s not easy promote wine contents on RUclips and you make that Great 🔝
Excellent video. I would appreciate more Riesling videos!
Gracias! I learn so much from your materials
Great video and as you say for the consumer it hopefully gives an indication of the quality of the wine. I have been lucky to be able to travel and go to vineyards/wineries and find wines that I enjoyed from Bergerac, Margaret River, and the Okanagen BC areas which very rarely make it over here, and it is the same with some European countries as there is so much to explore and find out if you can.
Big fun again ! Nice there was a Fitou in the row ! And Badenhurst I also would rate lower. But, yeah, it's personal. Keep up the good work, dear wine-collegue. Greetz from NL !
Great perspective, Konstantin. Many wines are perfect = 99-100. Nothing wrong! Great wines are above scoring, even if flawed in some bad vintages. Really Rare ones can blast the scorer to heaven. Scores. The real fun is being amazed beyond scores. THANK YOU
Congratulations, you did very well on this 4 ... thumb up.
From your description, I guessed Chateau Pontet Canet 2010, bravo!
Super cool video Konstantin! In the end what matters is how the wine tastes for you, and if you like it. Sure sometimes I’ll grab a wine because it has been awarded a high score, but it’s not a necessity in my opinion.
“My taste is not the correct taste, it’s just my taste.” This is why I love watching your reviews. This was a fun one.
Good concept for a vid!
I love this video. It’s so interesting to watch you figure out what you’re drinking. You narrow and narrow until you find the exact place. Just amazing.
It would be cool to do a video of you blind tasting of wines you’ve already rated in previous videos to see if it’s consistent or if it’s changed.
Love this format
Thank you! Yes for me scoring a wine is important to not only learn but to place in your value system.
Well done! Very fun video
I missed the black bags...nice tasting.
Scores are part of the fun with wines, and it's always fun when we can compare scores from different sources
Wonderful video and very educational.
Awesome skills, great video.
Great tasting as always. Very entertaining. As for scores? I wish I didn't rely on them as much as I do, but I can't deny looking at them and being influenced. I've tasted that Dr. Bürklin-Wolf wine, and agree it is fantastic.
Konstantin what an epic tasting, I love this format and ur tasting abilities are superb 🍷👌... Quickly looks at Google for prices of the Pauillac 😂... Cheers 👍
Nice video.
Is that a bottle of Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs Brut champagne in the background? I had their 1996 and it was absolutely stunning.
Dammmn! what a talent!!! Excellent recollection of wine and locale. I hope you still have your cameras.
It is crazy that through this video I discovered that my wife has in depth knowledge of wines..she guessed the exact region correctly for 2 out of 4 wines including the Pauillac..thanks dor this video!
Great video. You raised a very important point today regarding the 70-79 point range being called “average” despite the fact that by the numbers, this range doesn’t capture the mean of a bell curve of all the Parker ratings.
Thank you for this video! I would love to know where you got your bottle sleeves!
I always loved visiting Pontet Canet during en primeur week, not only for the wine but also for their great lunch and cheese selection😂
Thanks Konstantin, another great video. For me if there is one caveat here, it’s don’t always go blindly with a wine rating. I am pleased that you stuck to your guns with the Cinsault. Wine rating should be always used just as a guide; after all we all like different things. Some like marmite with other hate it. I tend to go with a wine critic with whom I appear to have a similar pallet. Pontet Canet by the way is a wonderful wine but like all great Bordeaux wines, is slowly going beyond the reach of most consumers. Perhaps a series of videos on affordable variations of the classics from around the world? Thank goodness, great Riesling is still reachable :-)
Thanks for another great video Konstantin! I have a great idea for one of your next videos to invite a very talented certified water sommelier in Germany, Timo Bausch, for us to find out the best water types for different wines.
Hello Konstantin. Thank you for the another amazing video. Please can you explain how points are given to wines specifically?
Good video! It would be interesting to learn how much you, and we if we get inspired, would need to pay for the wine that you taste. Of course, I can look it up myself, but im sure you have the information at hand. Keep them coming!
I always put the information into the description below the video
Heh, for once I ID'd a wine that you didn't - my mind went straight to cinsault for #1. But yeah, I can see how it won't be most people's first guess. I think I'll arrange something similar with our own wine guide from Chile (trying to find the 95-90-85 point wine, for example), I think it'd be really fun to challenge myself with that. Excellent video, as usual!
Scores? When I started to get into wine they were a guide, I found critics whose palate seemed to align to mine and used them to help me make choices. Now after some additional training I use them as a reference if multiple critics have scored the wine but more often I use back label, a trusted shop employee or importer as my guide. Great video.
Nice Video!! 🍷🥂🍾
I only trust my palate as a wine professional, but I use scorings as a guide to try new wines which I don't know (Kind of like a Phone contacts book) 🙂
Hi Konstantin - great vid! Cinsault is somewhat of a local hero here in SA with there being some truly excellent examples, the Ringmuur being one of them, even catching 'Wine of the Year' from Tim Atkin in his SA Report for the 2018. I don't think you got it wrong, mind you - your comment about 'my taste...' sums it up. I think it would make a great video reviewing some 'blending varieties' that have blown up in local environments... I mean, just look at Malbec!
Other local versions of Cinsault I urge you to try:
Van Loggerenberg Geronimo (personal favourite)
Sadie Pofadder (widely considered 'the best')
Badenhorst Ramnasgras (Ringmuur is a tiny bottling from a tiny vineyard, made particularly light in style)
Bosman Twyfeling (richer expression)
Scions of Sinai Heldervallei (young winemaker - particularly good terroir expression)
(Gabriels are my only glass, and I use a Laguiole too, lol)
(oh, and we cracked an '84 Pontet a few weeks ago.... mindblowing!)
Have you tried Waterkloof’s ‘Seriously Cool’ Cinsault before?
Lol, you must have guessed the #2 wine for a first growth. Love the credit card bit. 😂😂😂
Burklin-Wolf fantastic producer. loved the video!
I think scores can be helpful especially when you are seeking wine that you may not be too familiar with. I do think that they can be skewed and can leave some diamonds in the rough that are good to great but are not scored correctly. Like most things, read many reviews, sample as much as you can, and develop your own barometer for wine that you like.
Very much enjoyed this video. I would be interested if you did determine the statistical distribution of ratings from your reviews on your channel.
Oh, grats on the new opening!) And number 4 is found!) Grats on it too)
Number 4 is BACK!
Really cool series of tastings vs critics. It should be noted that Robert Parker himself stopped tasting in 2019 and in the years prior to his retirement he was doing almost exclusively Bordeaux and Napa Valley cabs. Would be fun to do "like for like" ie taste the wines Parker himself rated to get a gauge of the critic's palate vs yours.
I agree with your assessment of the wines and demonstrating why, when tasting, you need to evaluate the structure, texture, mouthfeel and length of a wine. I tell this to 'new' tasters of wine and comment that the main thing for them is how does the wine 'feel' to them? Does the smell, palate and finish impress you that you may want to taste it again or is it just 'not to their liking'. I ask my clients to go with their first impression but say over time they will recognise quality as they develop their palate and begin to understand the difference between a 'simple' wine and one that has complexity, just like the 2010 Pontet-Canet you described, a great year and an impressive wine coming from a 5ème Cru Classé.
Great video. I believe the intention of ratings and points began as a good idea to help people however, like all good things, it got exploited even by its inventor unfortunately. For me, now that I have much more experience and enjoy finding my own gems, I wish the ratings were less up front. Conversely, I enjoy doing my own tastings and rating wines just as you e done so the ratings actually help in that case. So for me they don’t help me choose but they provide a type of benchmark that I can have some fun with. Keep up the great content Konstantin! Cheers!
I have a bottle of 2019 Pontet-Canet in my cellar. Looking forward to it's drinking window :)
It lends a lot of credence to the scoring system that you guessed with 100% accuracy, but also leaves room for taste and subjectivity with the 90 pointer. Very cool
I’m not so sure about that. He was given the 4 scores upfront and just had to match them to the wines. I think the outcome would have been more interesting if he had been asked what Parker had scored them without the knowledge he was given here.
Pontet-Canet 2010, 2009 are both amazing! With a preference for 2010 🎉
It's always valuable to find a 100 or near 100 point wine for less than $300. The Pontet-Canet is my next target! Happy to know this now, thank you and to Leon.
Well done! Great idea - also for me to reproduce at home with friends! Grüße aus Österreich!
Leon, is really good at picking out wine's. Ponte - canet, was my favorit wine as a teen. it just got hit with the Bordeaux curse. 200e in Denmark, finde it hard to justify.. but its one that i will have to retaste soon .
And the GG riesling.. yummy all there is to day about that wine 😁
I think that this tasting and his breakdown of Parker’s scores suggest that there’s huge variation with wines rated 85-91. I’ve often wondered about this. Different critics seem to rate wines very differently in that range. I wonder if the data shows this?
Fantastic tasting, well done. It's also good to get the profile of some very nice wines. I collect spirits as well as wine and different folk use different scoring methods including ABCDE (with plus and minuses); 1-5; 1-10 and 1-100 which operates like the Parker point scoring and the one I use. I think it's a bit more fun because you have a few more points to play with.
I don't deliberately buy mediocre stuff so I'm hoping for at least an 85 and that would be a good value drink. Below 85 but not lower than 80 would indicate something slightly disappointing but still good. Anything above 92 has to be seriously good. Most whisky scorers never go above 98 and that would be perceived an exceptionally rare classic from a bygone era. Nothing get's scored 99 or 100 because that level of perfection is unobtainable.
What this means is that most of my whisky scores have a range of about 10 points out of the entire 100. I think with wine we are a bit more forgiving and I often see wines scoring Parker points of 94 which really don't deserve it. I'll also buy an 82 point wine and rate it as good value if it's cheap. The big issue is whether we should score for what's in the bottle only or price/quality.
Cheers. WT
After 7 years of selling luxury wines in Napa, I found scores to be frustrating when discussing wines to customers. Everyone wants to get a hold of 98+ point wines, but sometimes there are some exceptional wines that get scored in the lower to mid 90s. Now that I have moved away from that region, I do believe that consumers do need guidance when purchasing wine without being able to taste them, as well as discovering new high quality producers. Having my own family wine label now, scores are essential to our success and help to bring in new business. Loved this video very much and am now a firm believer in the scoring process.
Great tasting and insight. I do use points ratings, mostly of understand higher quality from regions or producers. It’s stands to reason that we don’t always agree100% with the ratings. It is a pretty good gauge of quality perspective from tasters that regularly have exposure to tasting professionally.
Scores mean a lot for me, if they are coming from the right critic. I just started with wine one year ago, so I definitely needed guidance. I started with Vivino scores, but those are 100% useless. Wine advocate scores are often in the lower end and it helped me with my first purchases. Now I trust my palate much more, but for me it was good that my developing palate was calibrated by critic scores.
Fun video. Thanks. I like the scores, but keep in mind I need to discount some of them. A James Suckling 92, is usually more like a 90 IMO. Also, I need to remind myself those scores are only for particular vintages, but they are advertised on bottles regardless of vintage. Cheers.
This is a really interesting topic. I have to score a lot of wines on a regular basis and I have a lot to say about this experience. Maybe enough for several RUclips clips (I do not have a channel though). I remember tasting my first RP100 wine (I did not know it was RP100, but I rushed to check the score right after the tasting). It was Chateau Climens 2001, tasted in 2005.
There is something that just hits you with a really good wine, just a sudden rush of "oh this is special"
I think scores can be useful when you find someone whose tastes are similar to yours that scores wine to figure out what you also may like, but you have to take them with a grain of salt as they also involve the taster’s personal preferences.
To quote approximately what RP said on the front cover of every issue of his Wine Advocate (in the days when I subscribed): the written comments are my main way of conveying my assessment, rather than the score. Wise words. If you get used to a particular critic’s scores fair enough but what he/ she says means the most. As on your vid, indeed - what you said about the top wine made me want to get my hands on a bottle, never mind the score.
Konstantin, how about you put together in NYC a dinner for your channel subscribers with wine. Flat prix fixe. Would be excited to come up from Philly. It would be a memorable experience. All of your videos are uplifting and make me smile!
Great video, and i agree that as a consumer it's more important to be able to bling taste quality rather than know the exact cepage and producer. However, I thought the scoring system was based on how typical a wine is of its particular variety and location, so that confused me a little. thanks
For the distribution of scores, I think you also should take into consideration the distribution of wines tasted by Robert Parker. If wines around 90 are the ones that tend to rise up to be tasted, that would affect the distribution of scores.
I am Euro and love Euro wines and not much American ones, though I have tried a LOT of both, including the big stuff like 1.Crus and Dominus, Opus1, Caymus SS, Colgin, Stag23 etc.
I love RP and WS cause if you take THEIR take on Euro wines, they were at least in the past, NEVER inflated and usually they disagreed, so take (RP+WS)/2 of any Red Bx, between say 1995-2010 then you'll notice VERY few 98+ wines on that scale.
And those that DID make that scale were freaking epic, when I tasted them - If I gotta go with one reference, I go with Decanter 97+ and crosscheck if WS/RP gave it minimum 94.
I just do James Suckling minus 2. Simple and spot on for me!
@@Birdylockso James Suckling used to be WS's European Chief until 2010, so that would seem to fit both of your takes on ratings accuracy. 👍
@@bonwatcher Interesting, but how does Suckling being the former European Chief of WS has to do with my take on rating accuracy? WS seems to me to be a group effort anyway. For example, I often disagree with Parker's rating, even though Parker has been around much longer. Maybe Suckling's taste is more aligned with mine because he married an Asian, who knows? LOL. Whose rating do you find yourself agreeing with more?
@@Birdylockso barath4545 saying he follows WS and RP and takes the average and his timeline of 1995- 2010 matches Suckling's time with WS, so I was just saying you guys both use Suckling's scoring as a barometer. Agreeing with someone's palate and ratings is something you learn over time and I agree that Suckling's ratings and notes are also more in line with a lot of my impressions of the same wines. I think RP sometimes gives some over generous scores, but he definitely has a good palate tasting wines.
Blind Tastings sind immer die besten Videos!
A very nice video, thanks a lot! Answering your question:
Scores are "Fluch und Segen" a double edged sword. For one, like you said it always is a matter of your own taste, the taste of the buyer. But for me even more important, is the "why" and "when" do I open the wine. With 100 Points wines you might mostly be right, you WILL impress your guests and your self. It's a lot more difficult with wines which in the RP scale are rated around 90 Points. I had 100 Point Moments with Silvaner Ortswein or a rather simple Riesling Kabinett, because they were exactly at the right place to the right time. On the other hand, I had 85 Point moments with quite expensive and highly rated wines, opened at the wrong moment.
I think the scores are helpful understanding that they are just a guide that gives me a range to consider if I don’t know the wine. I will try the Pontet
As someone who knows next to nothing about wine, and can’t even drink it yet, I still heavily enjoy these videos. Keep it up man
You have the chance to do what only few can do: start drinking good wines even at a young age and not waste your time tasting through all the crap.
Will do!
Growing up, my parents would allow me an ounce or two of wine at age 12 or 14. It was a good thing. Taught me that wine wasn't about boozing it up but about enjoying the flavor. I'm sure it started with me trying a sip out of one of their glasses and rejecting it. Then on another occasion I got brave enough to ask to try a little more. Then every time we had certain meals I wanted a little.
I let my daughter start tasting at dinner here and there way before her 21st birthday. She now appreciates good wine and knows how to pace herself.
Maybe you can ask for a sip to taste and spit out😂
@@ghettobougieahjoomab8663 perhaps lol. i have before, always just tasted like gasoline with a hint of grape juice. but it is something i definitely want to acquire as my palette develops
I have a contrary streak...if Parker rates a wine at 100 points, I'll nit-pick it to death if I have a chance to drink it. Big "if".
(Personally, I'd take the Burklin-Wolf!)
That was a fun format. Leon did a fine job choosing those wine. The ID of the the Pfalz GG was impressive even if from a classic producer. Scoring is a useful tool if utilized with objective rigor and accounting for variables. The system 10, 20, 100 isn't the important part. It is what best works for you to categorize relative quality differences as you perceive them. It will guide your repurchases, future choices and cellar investments. Few others will ever care about your score, so you do it for your own enrichment. There is only one Robert Parker and more importantly, only one Konstantin Baum!
Nice video, thank you.
You don't really speak of length here, which for me is a clear indicator of relative quality. Any particular reason?
Or perhaps you normally do in your other videos.
Either way, looking forward to catching up on your back catalogue.