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The value of a tasting note

20 Nov 2009
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I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, I even drafted a post, but recent events have prompted me to complete it.

What is a single tasting note worth?

Ryan Opaz of Catavino recently asked this question on twitter after a discussion we had, and it still has me thinking.

I suppose one could argue that tasting notes are worth exactly what you pay for them. In most cases, such as blogs, wine social networks and twitter, the answer is NOTHING. They are free! They are given away as they are shared by those tasting wines mainly for their own enjoyment.

But this is only part of the story. There are those sites that do charge to give you access to information such as tasting notes. In addition, even if consumers are not paying for tasting notes, that is not to say they are not “worth” something to someone.

Subscription Sites

There are sites where some of the key ‘value’ are the tasting notes on offer – not because they are tasting notes as such, but because they are buying advice (e.g. The Wine Gang) or “insider information” on the potential future value of premium wines (e.g. JancisRobinson.com on En Primeur)

There will always be a small number of people willing to pay for these sites to get this information rather than searching through multiple sites or waiting to personally taste wines they mean to buy – which may not even be possible. The question is whether there are enough of them to make a site profitable.

Social Networks

On the other hand, there are many social networks out there (e.g. Snooth, Adegga, etc.) where the tasting notes themselves are free content. They still represent value for people, but this is exchanged for attracting more friends & followers or becoming known as a reliable expert. The value is in social recognition, something some might call Whuffie or ‘Social Capital‘

And then there is the law …

What prompted me to write this today was the Decanter story that a journalist, Martin Isark, is suing Majestic for using his tasting note to promote a wine called “Cuvée de Richard Vin de Pays de l’Aude”. He wrote a note which apparently included the words “incredible value” in a newspaper in 2001 – and apparently Majestic have been using those words, attached to his name, ever since to promote subsequent vintages. So now, he is claiming £50,000 in damages for “‘false endorsements’ and ‘infringement of copyright’” to get them to stop according to the story (NB. I’m no lawyer, I’m only reporting information available on other sites).

Whilst I agree that the note is [arguably] false endorsement if they do not clearly show it was for a (much) older vintage, it makes you wonder how much Martin Isark thinks that endorsement is worth if the “damage” is £50,000 (as far as I know the UK law does not allow for punitive damages). I’m sure that Majestic will have sold some additional bottles of the back of the note, but that would be a LOT of bottles. And what about the benefits to Mr Isark (who, I must admit, I had not heard of before this incident)? He has had his name promoted to thousands of Majestic customers over the years – could he not have made something positive of this, offering to review (accurately and honestly) future vintages or more wines?

So, the question remains, how much is a tasting note worth?

Like any content, tasting notes have value and with the right ‘context’ there are ways to make them generate money for someone – let’s just hope it isn’t all for the lawyers, but for wine writers and drinkers instead!

[full disclosure: I am married to a lawyer, and benefit greatly from the good work that lawyers do :) ]

[UPDATE 20/11/09 14:23: On closer examination, Martin Isark answers the question on his website. The answer, at least for Martin Isark is: £15,000 PLUS 2% of sales as a royalty payment. This is astronomically high, and also makes one wonder about the potential ethical issues of journalists receiving royalties on related sales. Of course, he can name whatever price he wants, but I wonder whether anyone would really accept this value as realistic? If so, I need to start writing more tasting notes ;) ]

[UPDATE 20/11/09 14:27: inserted the word "arguably" in para 9 erroneously missed off original post!]

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am and is filed under marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Participating in a wine tasting has always been one of my deepest pleasures. There, you can interact with people with the same passion as you also have: Wine industry.
  • I agree with everything you say on this, and, as you are aware, I put every note I write online and offer them out for free, as long as whoever uses them, credits my blog (not that anyone ever uses them!!!). However, using a (respected) critic's note in a shop promotes that person's work, and hopefully will draw the wine buyer to reading more of that wine writer's work, be it in newspapers or on their website.

    I can understand a freelance critic wanting to make a bit of cash from retailers using their notes, but the figures that Martin Isark demands are absurd! If all critics charged what Isark does, and a retailer with a 700 product wine list would have to pay over ten million quid BEFORE the 2% of sales to get their wines reviewed! I'm pretty certain that Majestic could hire someone well known and respected, like Jancis, for that sort of money, get every wine they sell reviewed by her. It would do them a damn site more good than paying Isark!
  • jimbudd
    As Wink says Martin has successfully sued twice already – firstly Concha y Toro and then Direct Wines. In both instances the total settlement I believe ran to six figures or close to it. Of course a substantial chunk of this would have been legal fees.

    Firstly I would have expected better from Majestic to use a tasting note on a 2000 wine and then apply it without permission to 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Whether people have heard of Martin Isark is rather beside the point – if the quote had no effect on sales then presumably Majestic would have used another quote from a different writer. Incidentally I understand that his www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk garners a very considerable number of visitors.

    Robert raises a very interesting point – the value of a tasting note. Commercially it would be fascinating to see what difference, if any, quotes made to sales of wine across of supermarket chain. Do they increase sales and, if so, by how much? Sadly these sorts of figures would be very hard to come by, I fancy.

    I'm intrigued that Martin's action tends to provoke horror and derision and, yes, it does raise ethical issues. However, is this use of a tasting note very different from an endorsement on a famous sports star's shirt or using a celebrity chef like Jamie Oliver to promote your food? I suspect that Jamie charges a tad more than £15,000.

    Furthermore having already won twice does suggest that Martin is in step with the law.
  • chriscmitchell
    Martin Isark is first and foremost a very good self-publicist! Not so long ago he got considerable publicity for questioning the motives of wine competitions such as the IWC, IWSC and DWWA in the national press - his comments weren't particularly popular and risked alienating him from the rest of the trade, at the very time his book was coming out. Pretty punchy opinions, this man has...
  • rwhbray
    The better and more widely read the writer, the more valuable the note. The top tier would be Parker, Tanzer, Robinson, Vaynerchuk, Johnson etc...

    (note the lack of Isarck on that list)

    Of course, once you start putting monetary value on tasting notes, wouldn't you find journalistic integrity jeopardised?
  • Some thoughts:
    Martin Isark is a long-standing journalist and has sued others before this on exactly the same point, I believe at least once successfully (Jim Budd would know, I'm sure!). I think, because of this, the Circle of Wine Writers now include a question for our member directory entry as to whether we accept others quoting us without permission. I always answer 'no'. I dont' want people quoting me without permission as I want to check where it's going and how it's being used - these days usually I would ask for a website link.

    I'm no lawyer either but £50k seems to be standard damages to ask for any breach ... the same figure was quoted to me recently by a travel blogger who was sued by a travel company for libel over a comment someone made on his blog.

    As to what a tasting note is worth, well as usual it depends who's written it and who's publishing it and is all tied up with the whole issue of money being earned or not earned by wine writers these days. I guess in view of the recent Matt Skinner issue, it also depends if you've actually tasted the wine ;).
  • Ah, now untasted wines is a whole other story which is coming soon :)
  • robertgiorgione
    Rob, you communicate this interesting topic very articulately and candidly. I agree, how does Mr Isarck come up with that figure?
  • Good post Rob.
    And funny enough I hadn't heard of Isarck either until that decanter storyit wasn't till that decanter story. Lol
  • uhm...I wrote the above on my iphone, which doesn't seem to like winecoversation.com - but with what Chris said below Isarck seems to be an unbelievably good self-promoter....but 50K, c'mon!
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