I do so agree with that, Ryan, but I was attempting to put over (badly) that it's ingrained into the mentality of most European producers to reach for this 'sacred' accolade, it's not to do with sales it's to do with their pride (which to them is sometimes more important).

Devil's advocate here:
1) Most top wines are made with much electricity these days for refrigeration at various points of the process and never mind what other technical wizzardry. Without electricity you get - ah-hem - not always good super-natural wines - new invented term alert back there ;)
2) The European appellation system - spearheaded by the French - is for most European wine producers sacred and being recognised as part of it, rather than a 'mere' table wine, is the holy grail, for the vast majority of wine producing areas/styles etc - exception being the true mavericks that prefer to be a 'designer' Table Wine (spearheaded by the Italian Vino da Tavola or Super-Tuscans).
3) Those of us from outside and/or the media/critics look with astonishment when strange wines are given a top appellation designation (The Italians once again are masters of this with various DOCGs), but for these people it is really important (they think they've arrived) and perhaps we should have a little respect for that. Yes, we know better, but very few of them are likely to listen to us when it's ingrained in them to try to achieve something their grandfathers worked so hard for ...
Devil signing out.
Love to try it one day (I believe there are some great California and Ozzy electrified 'icewines' too).
PS: Great video!

OK, always glad when someone agrees with me :)

But can you confirm, is this a webinar? Because the link just goes to a little box and no more info ;)

Is this an environmentally friendly webinar? Find it hard to tell from what you've written ....

We're in dangerous territory for the poor, beleaguered wine consumer here who has to choose whether he/she wants/needs good wine, from where, at what price and whether it should be organic, biodynamic, natural, environmentally friendly or whether indeed he/she cares. My absolute biggest worry about this whole issue is the evidence of growing numbers of wine producers worldwide 'converting' to organics or one of the other options fairly obviously for marketing reasons even if they don't say so. To confuse matters further there are genuinely certified organic producers with huge carbon footprints or other 'dubious' environmental practices used for various reasons.

Finally there are all those, often unsung wine producers who use age-old practices that are virtually organic but don't want the hassle or bureaucratic constraints of applying for certification .... What do they do about marketing?? Perhaps they don't need any.

You're in an environmentally dangerous minefield here, my friends, Catavino ;)

What a superbly professional and exciting wrap-up video - says it like it was and should be! Congratulations to all!

Great interview with some good insights (especially loved the Gary Vee comments, which seem totally fair) but I do not agree that RMP is the only one in the field of media/wine criticism to be such a hard worker. In the UK wine media world, I would start with Jancis Robinson, who works phenomenally hard, and there are a few others who would come close too, even if they have not such a loud voice as either RMP or Jancis.

Congratulations Gabriella on writing about a really difficult issue.I think wine may be the only consumer product that faces so many complicated issues with quality.

Firstly, sorry I couldn't attend this session, but I've attended several similar sessions with different people over the years and still am not confident about certain wine faults, so don't worry about your confusion. I only really want to address your third point to emphasize that actually teaching about wine faults to consumers is very challenging.

As a wine educator for many years, I tend to keep the explanations for consumers (not so for trade students) as simple as possible. I tell them if the wine smells of vinegar or really foul, not 'winey' at all, it is most likely to be faulty or 'off'. I do always suggest always that it's tasted too and if possible left in the glass to see whether it gets better or worse. In a restaurant situation I talk to consumers about how best to venture sending a bottle back (depends on the country where the restaurant is as to how that is received) but if possible involve the sommelier or wait staff.

I guess the most important things I recommend, with my wine educator's hat on, are:

1) If you come across a faulty bottle and you are confident you know what the problem is and why it's like it is e.g. a corked or TCA-affected bottle, then share this with as many consumers as possible to give them the chance to experience it - e.g. in a basic restaurant, encourage the wait staff to try it if you can and they have time, and in a wine class, definitely pass the bottle around. Even at home, give faulty bottles to your non-wine confident friends to taste.

2) as someone working with or for a winery or the wine trade, at any sort of wine show, wine fair, wine tasting or presentation, please, please, please check/taste every single bottle BEFORE letting anyone else taste it. As a presenter, it's not easy to deal with a possibly faulty bottle mid-presentation and as a sales person representing a winery at a tasting, you really should be only serving the good bottles.

This isn't just about selling, it's 21st century Public Relations.

A winery might wait and wait before issuing a Press Release, and then when it does, be disappointed because there isn't a deluge of calls from the press. It is said that you need at least 7 press releases before anyone notices you. And then after a year, wineries often ask PR companies why they haven't had any reactions and sales. Much, much too soon.

Social media can work much faster and much more cheaply than a traditional public relations campaign. It's also much easier to monitor and/or measure the reactions. And, finally it can go direct to consumers, be noticed by the media, and work as a business sales tool (e.g. reach potential importers).