Wine Spectator honors a fictional restaurant

Restaurants live and die by ratings, such as the highly coveted Wine Spectator Awards. You can imagine the shock when it was revealed that a fictional restaurant won. Reporter Robin Goldstein submitted an application for a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for a restaurant he named “Osteria L’Intrepido.” Goldstein submitted the fee ($250), a cover letter, a copy of the menu which he decribes as "a fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes" ) and a wine list that, ironically, includes a number of wines that had scored poorly in the Wine Spectator magazine

Osteria L’Intrepido won the Award of Excellence, as published in print in the August 2008 issue of Wine Spectator. (Not surprisingly, the Osteria’s listing has since been removed from Wine Spectator’s Web site.)

The hoax brings up several questions. How could this happen? And, how often does this happen? The magazine's executive editor, Thomas Matthews, writes that this has never happened before and that 45,000 wine lists have been reviewed during the competition's 27-year history.

Take it as you will. My advice? Follow your palate not just what you read.