Where are the bad wine reviews?

You see movie critics give rotten reviews when due. Book and music reviewers will do the same. So where the heck are the bad wine reviews? Some guesses.

 Upsetting the hand that feeds you

Unlike major movie releases with wine you can just ignore the bad ones and not publish a review. Why? A lot has to do with staying on the good side of the producers. Often wines are given to them to review so if they give terrible reviews this source could dry up. Restaurant reviewers often work for free food so they also may have to be careful about upsetting their sources.

Sometimes it might be not wanting to embarrass or even cause trouble for a winemaking staff that put just as much effort into this bad wine as their better stuff. Maybe it was just an off year. Maybe it's just a bad bottle. It's kind of tricky to ask, "Is this bottle bad or do they all taste this way?"

 Wines pre-selected

If they only review wine bottles sent to them or wines poured for them at a winery it's unlikely they'll have a chance to taste any "mistakes" made by the winemaker. So wine critics and judges are unlikely to get to taste anything considered inferior. 

 Sell off

In the premium wine regions you rarely find really bad wines anymore. Part is because things are dialed in and it might be harder to make a bad wine from places like Napa Valley. Also, when your winery's reputation is on the line you can sell off substandard juice to a negociant and it will go under a different label.

 Buyer beware

It's too bad it's this way. It's good to be able to (mostly) rely on professional critics and judges to tell you what's good, but you have no idea what's bad. You add that along with the goofy 100 point scale used by many to judge wine where anything below about 87 points is considered lousy. 

You do have the internet where you can find other consumers who have tried a wine and critiqued it, but how much to do trust us amateurs? The best bet is to find multiple sources of reviews on a wine, if available.