Of TCA, Tempests and Teapots - Chateau Montelena's "Cellar Funk"

Another good article by Carol Emert, this one on the TCA contamination at Montelena:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/09/WIG7I8L5751.DTL

When Jim Laube (rhymes with Snobby) "outed" BV in 2002, he did it with all the journalistic aplomb of someone who was out to protect the consumer from a evil corporation out to foist sub-standard, third world products on an unsuspecting consumer. He tasted a few BV wines during his reviews, found them to be "corked" and send them in for testing to a lab. They came back with TCA levels at a threshhold that could be tasted by some (Laube has a very low tolerance/threshhold for TCA) but not by the VAST majority of consumers. As a result, BV's sales slumped over 20% in the months followed the announcement by Wine Spectator.

Sales decreases were a reaction by the trade (wholesalers and retailers) to the negative publicity in Wine Spectator. Consumers don't read WS in any significant numbers, so the slowdown in sales was directly a result of wholesalers' concerns over the WS story. However, since 90% of consumers cannot taste TCA below 5 parts per trillion (ppt), why is WS destroying a brand's reputation for levels of TCA that averaged 2.7 ppt? BV had no unusual problems with consumer complaints, yet the "watchdog" of the industry went after them for a problem that didn't exist for 90% of consumers.

Then, WS did it again. They "outed" Gallo Sonoma in 2003 causing a huge cleanup of a problem that may not have been a real problem.

Now, they're doing it again to Montelena. What service are they providing? Selling copies or serving the consumer?

This reminds me of a consumer report gone bad: "There's a dangerous consumer product that kills thousands of Americans each year and you might have one in your own backyard. Details on the swimming pool crisis at 11"