To recap, the Vintage Wine Tasters, a group of non-industry people who love and enjoy wine, have been meeting informally for many years to taste and judge wine. At our previous meeting in June, we decided it was time to go public with our wine judging expertise. We posted the ratings for six Zinfandel wines we evaluated that day in June on this blog.
Little did we know what would happen next. Within minutes of the blog post, the social media sites sent out a wave of comments and tweets that reverberated throughout the online wine world. Within days we were inundated with tempting offers to be sent samples of wine. Talking notes appeared on wine shelves: “Vintage Wine Tasters Select Sobon Rocky Top as Best Zin.”We were astonished but quite pleased that the wine world was looking for a new voice in wine ratings. About those wine samples! We have agreed, unlike many wine critics, to refuse all samples of wine and vow not to be swayed by any winery, wine shop, or distributor.