A prestige wine magazine, the American Wine Spectator, beloved by wine snobs, has bestowed it's coveted 'award of excellence' on a non-existent restaurant, chortles Mrs. M. It seems that Robin Goldstein, the 'fearless critic,' decided to test the magazine by applying for a plaque for Osteria L'Intrepido in Milan, which doesn't exist.  These plaques are taken very seriously in the industry as a recognition of excellence.

The award costs $250 to apply, and because 4,500 restaurants sent in this fee in 2007 the magazine earned more than $1m.  This hoax has called into question the value of wine awards.  When you're in the business of rating wines, you need to be above reproach.  It now seems that bogus customer reviews are also posted on the magazine's website.

The Wine Spectator declared that the Osteria's Classico La Fabriseria (1998) which costs $143/bottle ‘smells like bug spray' and that it's Classico Cioe (1993) at $110/'bottle has 'too much paint thinner and nail varnish character.'

Mr. Goldstein also conducted a wine tasting to prove his point that people think wine tastes better when it's expensive.  In a blind tasting of 6,000 wines priced between $1.50 and $150 a bottle, two thirds of the tasters chose a  $12 US wine from Seattle over a $150 Don Perignon.

The Wine Spectator called Mr. Goldstein 'malicious and duplicitous,' but it could be this prestige industry needs a bit of shaking up, or 'un corking!'