NewCat3

Bux mentioned Robert Parker who I respect in so far as being a consumer advocate. However both the French and California wine industry need to figure out how to gain control of the ratings if they are really going to use Parker's 100-point scores to protect small wine farms in Europe and California wineries. After all one day Parker will be gone, then what? Maybe the company in the Wired story can morph into a wine industry based ratings authority that protects small winemakers. What does anyone think?

Wine people interested in technology and wine ratings have tended to mention the story. The President of one of the exhibitors at MacWorld mentioned the story. My sense is that technology will benefit the artisan winemakers much as CAD programs put power back into the hands of architects. In other words, winemakers who can simulate quality of blends prior to blending wines must have a tremendous advantage. It enables them to increase volume or quality and estimate the outcome. Wired really does cover the future.