This page explains how wines get onto this site, how they are tasted, what the scores mean, and what my commercial interests are. If you only read one section, read the disclosure at the bottom.
What gets reviewed
I am the Italian wine buyer at K&L Wine Merchants. The wines reviewed here are, with few exceptions, wines I have selected for the store. Selection comes first; the review comes after.
That order matters, and it is the single most important thing to understand about this site. I am not tasting everything Italy produces and reporting back. I am tasting toward a decision — whether to commit money and shelf space to a wine — and publishing the judgment I arrived at. Two criteria drive that decision:
- Typicity. Does the wine taste of where it is from? A Barolo should taste like Barolo, of its commune and its vintage, not like an anonymous well-made red. A wine that is technically flawless but says nothing about its origin does not interest me.
- Price to quality. A wine has to be worth what it costs. An excellent bottle at a punishing price is a worse recommendation than a very good one that is fairly priced, and I weigh it accordingly.
The practical consequence is that this site is a record of what I bought and why, not a survey of the category. Wines I tasted and passed on are not published here. Absence is not a verdict.
How I taste
Tasting is not blind. I know what is in the glass, because I am usually tasting to decide whether to buy it. Blind tasting has real virtues, but it is not how buying decisions are made, and claiming otherwise here would be false.
I taste with the wine’s context in view: the vintage conditions, the producer’s intent and history, the shape the appellation is supposed to have. My background — a decade in fine dining including Del Posto and Per Se, a culinary degree from the International Culinary Center, and VIA Certified Italian Wine Ambassador and Educator training — pushes me to assess wine as something served with food and drunk at a table, not as an isolated specimen.
Notes are written from my own tasting. Where a note appears both here and on the K&L product page, it is my text in both places, published with K&L’s knowledge.
The scoring scale
Scores here run from 90 to 100. That is not score inflation — it is the selection described above showing up in the numbers. Wines that do not earn a place in the store do not get reviewed, so the bottom of the published range is the entry point to my recommendation, not a mediocre grade.
Across the 593 reviews published so far the average is 94.9 and the median is 95. The bands mean this:
- 90–92 — Sound and honest. Correct, typical of its origin, worth its price. A wine I am glad to sell and happy to drink. (79 wines, 13%)
- 93–95 — Excellent. Clear character and real definition; the wine says something specific about its place. The heart of the selection. (258 wines, 44%)
- 96–97 — Outstanding. Depth and complexity beyond correctness, with the structure to develop. Worth going out of your way for. (197 wines, 33%)
- 98–100 — Reference point. A benchmark example of its appellation and vintage — the bottle I would use to teach what the category is supposed to be. (59 wines, 10%)
A score judges the wine against the standard of its own appellation, not against wine in general. A 96-point Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo and a 96-point Barolo are not making the same claim; each is measured against what its own category should deliver.
Disclosure
I am the Italian wine buyer at K&L Wine Merchants in California, and I have a commercial interest in most of the wines reviewed on this site. I select them, the store sells them, and the store pays me. Many reviews link to the corresponding K&L product page.
I do not think that undermines these reviews, but you should weigh it. Here is exactly what it does and does not mean:
- No producer, importer or distributor pays for coverage here. There is no paid placement, no sponsored review, and no advertising on this site.
- I do not solicit or accept free samples in exchange for reviews. Where samples are involved they are trade samples poured in the ordinary course of evaluating wines to buy — the same bottles any buyer is shown. They are a purchasing tool, not compensation.
- This site earns no affiliate commission. Links to K&L are there so you can find the wine; I receive nothing per click or per sale from them.
- The scores are mine alone. They are assigned by hand here, and are not supplied by, approved by, or synced with K&L or anyone else.
- My employer does not approve these reviews. K&L is aware of this site. Editorial control sits with me.
What the arrangement genuinely means is that my commercial judgment and my published judgment are the same judgment. I do not write about wines I would not stock, because I do not taste toward that outcome. Read the scores knowing that.
Opinions here are my own and do not represent K&L Wine Merchants.
Corrections
Facts on this site — appellation boundaries, grape composition, producer history, vintage detail — are researched but not infallible. If something is wrong, write to [email protected] and I will correct it. Substantive corrections to a review will be noted on the review rather than made silently.