Flutterby™! : Wine Spectator Award of Excellence

What does it take to get a "Wine Spectator Award of Excellence"? Up until Robin Goldstein publicized this stunt, about $250 and a word processor:

As part of the research for an academic paper I’m currently working on about standards for wine awards, I submitted an application for a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. I named the restaurant “Osteria L’Intrepido” (a play on the name of a restaurant guide series that I founded, Fearless Critic). I submitted the fee ($250), a cover letter, a copy of the restaurant’s menu (a fun amalgamation of somewhat bumbling nouvelle-Italian recipes), and a wine list.

Via Dr. Vino, via Polymeme.

Of course I continue to be fascinated by how much of our appreciation of food and spirits is subjective, I'm not sure whether this is another data point in that or my notion of what "journalism" is.