A sort of Sokal-moment for (previously) respected Wine Spectator magazine:
Milan, Italy'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 Web site for the restaurant and submitted an application for the award that included a copy of the restaurant's menu (which he described as "a fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes") and a wine list well-stocked with dogs like the 1993 Amarone.
Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews demonstrates the value of digging once you hit the bottom. They make, he says, "significant efforts to verify the facts." Just look:
"Googling the restaurant turned up an actual address and located it on a map of Milan. The restaurant sent us a link to a Web site that listed its menu."
If that isn't good fact checking, I don't know what is.
10:18:35 PM 
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