Greetings,

This thread (including the tinyurl link) has made interesting reading.
I've been a wino for 25 years and was hazed mercilessly at times during college for my subscription to Wine Spectator (while peers were ogling the swimsuit issue of SI). I'm no longer a subscriber, but DO peruse their pages from time to time and DO pay attention to their award winners when dining out away from home.

In the fair and balanced space, I would encourage anyone not interested in reading 40 responses to Robin's blog to jump to the Wine Spectator response to this issue.

This sounds like a pretty elaborate deception - entertaining, but far from damning of their enterprise. WS is very clear on their criteria. This page notes that there are 3,254 winners of the Award of Excellence, 802 winners of the Best of Award of Excellence and 73 of (my favorite) Grand Award winners.
So in sheer math, there are 4,100+ restaurants that "win" an award, plus the "one third" who don't make the cut (per the WS response). In round numbers that's over 5,000 applications (a cool $1.25M annually).

My expectation as a consumer would be that the diligence go into the top of the list. From my experience, having dined at several of the 73 in the list of Grand Award winners, these establishments ARE exceptional. One of my favorites - in Durham, NC - is The Angus Barn. I've toured their cellar. I've eaten their steak and quaffed their wine more times than someone from Oregon should have the opportunity to do - and I keep going back.

I have a lower standard for the Best of category and an even lower standard for the Award category. Perhaps most importantly, though - I use the WS listings as A GUIDE to find interesting places to dine. Once there, I evaluate things on my own. A quick perusal of the wine list from the Angus Barn had me pretty happy. And yes, I've had highly rated entries I haven't eaten at because they didn't clear my bar once I'm there. The WS list got me to consider the restaurant, but my evaluation of their offering is what drove where I ate that night.

So - in the grand scheme of things - can WS be scammed? Sure. I'm sure the IRS does worse. I'm sure there are others who skate onto the bottom of the list. In my mind, that doesn't mean all 4,000+ of the ones who made the list are to suffer by comparison.

In the caveat emptor space, do your homework yourself, or at least know what goes into efforts like the WS lists.

Robin - good on you for the elaborate tomfoolery. At the end of the day, however, I feel you've demonstrated close to nothing by your effort.