Wine magazine is duped.

   BOTTOM LINE: The presitigous "Wine Spectator" magazine is red-faced after learning it was duped by a blogger.  08-22-2008

Wine Spectator drinks a hearty glass of blush
The magazine praises a Milan restaurant that doesn't exist. Wine critic and author Robin Goldstein cooked up the hoax.
By Jerry Hirsch
Los Angeles Times 
     Milan's Osteria L'Intrepido restaurant won Wine Spectator magazine's award of excellence this year despite a wine list that features a 1993 Amarone Classico Gioe S. Sofia, which the magazine once likened to "paint thinner and nail varnish."
    Even worse: Osteria L'Intrepido doesn't exist.
    To the magazine's chagrin, the restaurant is a Web-based fiction devised by wine critic and author Robin Goldstein, who said he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards.
  To pull off the hoax, Goldstein created a bogus website for the restaurant and submitted an application for the award that included a copy of the restaurant�s menu (which he describes as "a fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes") and a high-priced "reserve wine list" well-stocked with dogs like the 1993 Amarone.
    The application also included what Goldstein suggests was the key qualification: a $250 entry fee. "I am interested in what's behind all the ratings and reviews we read. . . . The level of scrutiny is not sufficient," said Goldstein, who revealed the prank while presenting a paper at an American Assn. of Wine Economists meeting in Portland,Ore., last weekend. 
   Link to rest of article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-winehoax22-2008aug22,0,1066013,print.story