Gold medal is no guarantee of great wine

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New research questions whether gold medals from wine competitions mean that you’re getting a good wine.

Wineries covet gold medals and spend millions of dollars a year entering wine in competitions and paying fees in hopes that they will be able to brag about awards on their bottles and boast about them in pitches to tasting room customers and wine club members.

But a study of U.S. wine contests published this week suggests consumers shouldn’t always assume that gold medal winners are outstanding wines.

Writing in the Journal of Wine Economics, retired Cal State Humboldt professor Robert Hodgson said he looked at the results for more than 4,000 wines entered in 13 U.S. competitions in 2003 and found little consistency in what wines won gold medals.

The findings were dismissed as ‘hogwash’ by the organizer of the Los Angeles County Fair’s giant wine contest.

To read the Business section story by Jerry Hirsh, click here.

Here’s a video about the controversy.