Robin Goldstein is an American author, food and wine critic, and economics pundit. He is known for his books and articles questioning

conventional wisdom The conventional wisdom or received opinion is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted by the public and/or by experts in a field. In religion, this is known as orthodoxy. Etymology The term is often credited to the economist John K ...

and pricing in the food and wine industries, particularly a widely publicized exposé of

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

magazine, and for his writing on the

Freakonomics ''Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'' is the debut non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and ''New York Times'' journalist Stephen J. Dubner. Published on April 12, 2005, by Will ...

blog. He is author of several books, including ''The Wine Trials'' and ''The Beer Trials.'' Goldstein was also one of the subjects of ''

Think Like a Freak ''Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain'' is the third non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and ''New York Times'' journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book was published on May 12 ...

'', the 2014 book by ''

'' authors

Steven Levitt Steven David Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is an American economist and co-author of the best-selling book ''Freakonomics'' and its sequels (along with Stephen J. Dubner). Levitt was the winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal for his work in the ...

and

Stephen Dubner Stephen Joseph Dubner (born August 26, 1963) is an American author, journalist, and podcast and radio host. He is co-author of the popular ''Freakonomics'' book series: ''Freakonomics'',Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of ...

. Goldstein is currently on the research faculty of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, where he is Principal Economic Counselor at the UC Agricultural Issues Center in Davis and studies cannabis prices and the market impacts of cannabis regulations. He lives in Oakland, California. Goldstein received an AB in Neuroscience and Philosophy from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, a JD from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

, and a PhD in economics from the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...

. He also graduated from the

French Culinary Institute The International Culinary Center was a private for-profit culinary school headquartered in New York City. In 2020, it merged into the Institute of Culinary Education, also in New York City. It was founded as The French Culinary Institute by D ...

and the WSET wine program. In 2005, after having reviewed restaurants and hotels for Fodor's Travel Guides in Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, and Hong Kong, Goldstein founded the

Fearless Critic Fearless Critic Media is a US publishing house best known for its books ''The Wine Trials'', ''The Beer Trials'', and the Fearless Critic series of restaurant guidebooks to US cities. The publishing house was founded in 2004, merged with Workman i ...

series of restaurant guides, which was later acquired by Workman Publishing in New York and became a Workman imprint.

Wine Spectator Award of Excellence controversy

At the August 2008 conference of the American Association of Wine Economists in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, Goldstein revealed that in a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

exposé Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

, he had won a Wine Spectator "Award of Excellence" for an imaginary restaurant, Osteria L'Intrepido (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for "the fearless tavern").blindtaste.co
What does it take to get a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence?
/ref> With the help of his friend Giuliano Stiglitz, he created a fake website for the restaurant, submitted a reserve wine list of low-rated Italian wines along with the $250 entry fee, and won the award, which he sought to expose as a form of advertising. The hoax garnered worldwide press. Wine Spectator Editor-in-Chief Thomas Matthews responded on the magazine's web site.Matthews, Thomas, forums.winespectator.com (August 20, 2008
Wine Spectator Has Been Scammed
/ref>

The Wine Trials experiment

In May 2008, Goldstein revealed the results of an experiment that he conducted in which 500 subjects, in a blind taste test, preferred cheaper wine to more expensive wine. The results were published in an academic paper entitled "Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?" followed by a book entitled ''The Wine Trials.'' Some wine critics and aficionados questioned Goldstein's conclusions, and a staff editorial in the ''Boston Globe'' criticized his findings.

Works by Goldstein

;Books *''Blind Taste: A Defense of Fast Food & Cheap Beer'', Fearless Critic Media/ IPG, 2014. *''The Wine Trials 2011'', Fearless Critic Media/ Workman, 2011. *''The Beer Trials'', Fearless Critic Media/ Workman, 2010. *''The Wine Trials 2010'', Fearless Critic Media/ Workman, 2010. *''The Wine Trials'', Fearless Critic Media/ Workman, 2008. ;Articles
Can People Distinguish Pâté from Dog Food?

Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Robin American male writers Living people Harvard College alumni Wine critics Yale Law School alumni 1976 births