Phony restaurant wins wine award

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A U.S. prankster says he made up a fictional Italian restaurant and was able to win an award of excellence for it from a wine magazine.

Wine critic and author Robin Goldstein said he pulled the scam to expose the dubious criteria used by magazines for many food and wine awards, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

"I am interested in what's behind all the ratings and reviews we read ... The level of scrutiny is not sufficient," Goldstein told the newspaper last weekend while presenting a paper at an American Association of Wine Economists in Portland, Ore. He said he created a bogus Web site for the restaurant and submitted an application to Wine Spectator Magazine for the award as well as a $250 entry fee, which he said was probably the key qualification.

Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews said on the magazine's Web site that it makes "significant efforts to verify the facts," and in an interview with The Times denounced Goldstein's prank as "publicity-seeking scam."

He denied its awards of excellence were designed to generate revenue for the magazine, telling the newspaper, "This is a program that recognizes the efforts restaurants put into their wine lists."