It's been brewing for some time. In the last few years, I have been increasingly finding professional wine reviews unsatisfying and problematic.
The whole thing started with Parker for me. Early in my wine buying, I bought lots of Bordeaux, essentially based only on his reviews. Somehow over the last 6 years or so, my palate has shifted away from high scoring blockbusters (that he seems to favor IMO), and towards more finesse and terroir driven wines that often do not garner the highest scores (Gruaud Larose may be a good example of this in Bordeaux). I have learned that RP's palate does mostly not agree with mine when it comes to Spain and Australia, and that's true even more so for Jay Miller these days. That left me with Antonio Galloni, who I have great respect for. But even Antonio seems like he may not be lining up with me as well as I thought he did (as evidenced by a recent 2004 Mauro Veglio Barolo).
While this thought process developed, I learned what kind of wines I like, and which I don't. I also learned which retailers assess wines in a way that I can relate to, and I learned which producers make wine in a style that I enjoy.
I have been stewing for days whether to renew my subscriptions to RP's Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator, and I've finally decided not to do so. Instead, I subscribed to the Decanter (which I like for it's coverage of lesser wines, great travel reports, and different palate focus). This is a big and somewhat final step in the progression of my wine hobby. I have finally learned to trust myself and I must say it feels really good.
A sante.
SP
