On the Question of Ethics

There is a bit of a buzz going around the wine blogosphere about ethics. It started in part because of a post from Dr. Vino and led to among other things this post from the inestimable Jancis Robinson.

I am no Robert Parker, nor Jancis Robinson, but this does not mean that I do not have my own code of ethics I strive to live by. In general I am very careful to not accept anything from a winery or any wine company. I pay for the wines I taste unless they are being offered to everyone at a tasting, and I generaly do not accept any form of hospitality.

I say generally, because on this trip around the world, it has been somewhat a different story. I am driven to the wineries who almost always also offer us lunch. There are a few ways I rationalize this in my own narrow scope of ethical standards. First and foremost every winery that we visit is offering us the same treatment, ensuring that there is not one over another that I would feel beholding to.

The second and most important factor is that I am a ruthless critic. I can easily taste a wine, smile at the winemaker, and perhaps even say something diplomatic about the wines, and then come back to my keyboard prepared to write the truth as I see it.

This trip has cost us a small fortune, and the wineries are far afield. I could have just written about the wines we buy, and indeed I keep them separate in my reviews, but that would only have given a small glimpse into the wine regions, especially Chile and Argentina.

Some wine reviews are only conducted blind, and there is a lot to be said for and against this. First there is the definition of a truly blind tasting, it has to be double blind that is sorted by random to really qualify, in my opinion. It is easy to orchestrate a blind tasting to favor a result. Assuming that the tasting is as blind and fair as it can be, some wine styles tend to do better than others.

A big heavy wine will tend to stand out and if there are many heavy ones, the fruitier, easier to enjoy wine may stand out. Every blind taster has a story about how one of their favorite wines has failed to do well in a blind. Some of this is because removing prejudice is the point of a blind tasting, and some of it has to do with the fact that the criteria of what we drink is not always the same as what we look for in a blind tasting.

I am all for removing the variables that effect a tasting. I go out of my way to train myself to taste in as objective a way as possible, but I am only human. I taste blind when it is possible, and open when the circumstances dictate it.

How do you as a reader judge my efficacy? Simply by deciding for yourself that my taste is similar to yours. If our palates are compatible then you can trust my taste and tasting notes, if not, look for a different critic. I have been giving this same advice for the 19 years I have been writing about wines. And considering how many of my newsletter readers are still with me, for them at least I am providing a valuable service.

The flack on wine writing ethics started not because anyone did anything wrong in accepting a trip to a wine region, but because it was against their written and stated code of ethics. If you are going to have a code, you have to stick to it.

My code? I only accept hospitality when I am going to accept it from everyone equally. I will whenever possible spend my own money to acquire and rate wines. I will always be transparent about any connections to a winery and where I got the wines I am rating. I will remain brutally objective and loyal to my readers first, and that the proof of this will always be my ratings themselves.

I have a great many friends in the wine business, because that is the circle I travel in. Most of these people are friends in spite of what I have said about their wines, not because of it. There are also those that I have become better friends with because I am enamored of their wines. This too is only natural, since I tend to want to hang out with those that have the best wine. When I write about a friend's wine, I always say so.

So yes, I have accepted lunch and a ride to visit the 40 or so wineries I have been to here in South America. It really helped the budget, but it didn't cover the many of thousands of dollars in airfare and hotel bills. It is enough outside my ethical comfort zone that I feel compelled to mention it, but not so far outside I want to apologize for it.

We all have to look to our own conscience when it comes to ethics. The fact that I think about it at all may be to my credit, but on the Internet even more than in a printed journal I believe that you are only as credible as your actions. I applaud those that have brought this thorny issue to a fore, and hope that I pass their standards, but more importantly, that I pass yours.