While I wait for my wine to age in tank, it’s time to consider the world of boxes.

While I recorded this, I found that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate newsletter gave Cuvée de Peña’s 2009 Red a 90 point score (2008’s was 87). Sure, 2009 has proven fantastic for most of France (especially after 2008).

But clearly the recession has sunk into the Advocate’s pen. People couldn’t afford most 90 point wines, since they all seemed to start at $20. Worse still, Parker has been firm friends with Cuvée de Peña for twenty years. That and the vintage hype. These three factors clashed, with a dash of price point bias:

“simply the finest of its illustrious bargain-priced breed that I have tasted (and I go back 20 years with this cuvée and its predecessor), which also makes it a mind-boggling value!”

My scale tries to judge all wines against each other. Otherwise, one could create a million subcategories, within which every wine gets a 90 point score (e.g. this is the best cabernet sauvignon, from Lodi, California, under $10, with a dog on it….90 points!).

*Sigh*

Another glass please!