Dr Vino's wine blog

With yesterday’s announcement from Robert Parker that Jay Miller will be leaving The Wine Advocate, five wine regions will be getting new reviewers for the publication.

David Schildknecht is a thoughtful, erudite, thorough reviewer with a tremendous knowledge of the regions he covers. The one time I met him, he held forth on not only the wines in front of us but also Austrian soil types, vineyard weather exposure, family histories of producers, classical music and butterflies. He was an importer of German wines. He currently reviews the wines of Germany, Austria, the Loire, Languedoc-Roussillon, Beaujolais, Alsace, and America’s east coast. He will add Oregon and Washington to this list.

Neal Martin, 40 and based near London, will be the publication’s critic for Spain, Argentina and Chile adding to his new-ish coverage of Sauternes, South Africa and part of New Zealand. He has mostly been an “at-large” critic without a geographical region though he has been working on a book about Pomerol. In a 2006 posting on his site after attending a Spanish tasting, Martin wrote: “I have never really got under the skin of Spanish wine. This tasting does little to alleviate my apathy.” Martin entered a eBob thread on tempranillo in 2007 and wrote “in most cases I view it as more of a work-horse grape that works better as a blend rather than a single variety.”

A couple of things to note in all this. First, Parker has not selected a regional expert for any of the new regions. While Galloni had only been to California and Burgundy twice before assuming his coverage of those areas, it’s not immediately clear if Martin, in particular, has been ever been to and tasted in the regions of his new assignment. Also, a with so much ground to cover, hopefully they manage to slow down and not feel compelled to taste at nine wineries in a day.

Further, and most importantly, neither Martin nor Schildknecht would appear to have any patience for the high-octane, woody style of red wines of all of his coverage that Miller championed and showered with points, including many 100-point scores. So the wineries that were making wines in a style explicitly to appeal to Miller may find these new critics more abstemious with the scores. Or perhaps not–maybe the path of least resistance for the new critics is simply to lavish praise on all styles? Their first reviews will tell.

In a posting on eRobertParker.com, Robert Parker has announced that Jay Miller will no longer be writing for The Wine Advocate. Parker says: “After several months of consideration, Big Jay, who has done such a thorough and professional job of bringing emerging wine regions such as Spain, South America, and the Pacific Northwest much needed coverage and attention, has decided to return to wine consulting, lecturing and wine retail.”

Miller says he will be returning part time to Bin 604, a wine store, working on a book and may start a wine blog. He added:

Some may believe my stepping down is in response to my critics. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have felt constrained in responding while still on The Wine Advocate staff. While the office has defended my actions, justifiably, now it is time for me to speak for myself… I leave The Wine Advocate with a clear conscience. I have never accepted (or requested) fees for visiting wine regions or wineries.

Neal Martin will take over reviewing the wines of Spain, Argentina, and Chile for the publication. David Schildknecht will review the wines of Oregon and Washington.

Related: “Campogate: No pay, no Jay” [Jim’s Loire]
“Regional group charges wineries fees for Wine Advocate tasting“

SIPPED and SPIT: saber rattling
Jim Budd posts more revelations about Pancho Campo and Jay Miller, including emails involving a $31,000 tasting for the wines of Madrid that the regional body could not afford. On his web site, Robert Parker threatens to sue over the recent revelations. Jim Budd pushes back against such a prospect.

SIPPED: tragedy
A blogger views the events transpiring in Spain through the lens of Aristotelean tragedy. But how does it end? [koskeloonwine]

SIPPED and SPIT: Yao Ming wine
Yao Ming, former NBA player and current wine enthusiast living in Shanghai, has released a Napa cabernet that will sell for $289 a bottle in China (including duties and sales tax). Blake Gray points out that the wine is not from a specific vineyard; Cameron Hughes elaborates in the comments that he bought similar wine for $5 – $25 a gallon on the bulk market. (There are about five wine bottles to the gallon.) A higher-priced wine, Yao Family Reserve, is expected soon. [WSJ, Gray Report]

SIPPED: BYOB?
Over on Chowhound, a commenter wonders if it is okay to bring wine, specifically Armand de Brignac “Ace of Spades,” to MASA where the corkage fee is $90. Over on Facebook, Lyle Fass quips that the bling bottle merits that “They should charge your ass double!!” It’s an interesting idea to have restaurants vary corkage fees depending on whether they like a diner’s wine–how much for Chateauneuf du Pape at Masa? Or Yao Ming cab?

Coincidentally, two American critics are tweeting from their Burgundy visits right now. The critics are Antonio Galloni of Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate and John Gilman, who publishes The View from the Cellar. Galloni offered this information from his trip on Twitter:

Nine visits per day, needless to say, would equal about 30 – 45 minutes per visit. So I asked how much time he spends at each domaine. He replied, “depends on the # of wines, key is to have everything ready in advance, put visits close together.”

If he was tasting the Bourgogne-level wines, village wines, premier crus and grand crus (if any) for reds and whites, and for two vintages, that was a lot of swirling and spitting! I asked if he had sufficient time to evaluate the wines. He replied, “Sure thing. Tasted ’10 reds, plus selection of 09s, no whites.” Galloni had been to Burgundy twice prior to taking over coverage of the region earlier this year.

I saw John Gilman was also awake and tweeting, so I asked him how long he takes per stop while in Burgundy. He said, “Depends on the size of the cellar–Drouhin or Jadot count as 2 stops–average is 1.5 hours- I like to take time to talk w/ vignerons.” Then he added, “most I did on single day on this last trip was 6–3 in morning and 3 in afternoon–started a 8h00 & finished up at 19h00–exhausted.”

An item on Bloomberg yesterday detailed how Spaniards are drinking less wine, which has prompted Spanish wineries to pursue export markets more. From this perspective, it’s partially understandable why Spanish wineries might want to pay a fee to invite Wine Advocate critic Jay Miller to their regions. They want to crack into the US market and they figure the best way to do so is to get a score from the Wine Advocate (even if one document from the regional organization referred to the scores as “Parker points”).

But that sales strategy is sooo 1990s! In my view, many American wine consumers have moved beyond scores, and an increasing number of wine shops have too. What do you think: should the wine industry move beyond scores? Are scores less relevant today to consumers in your experience than they were five or ten years ago? It seems to me that today the trade clings to scores more readily than consumers do. But one importer I spoke with recently Jose Pastor, has said no to scores.

I asked the Twitterverse for shops that do not use third-party tasting notes or scores. The unverified responses appear after the jump–hit the comments to keep the list going! Read more…

How do wineries prepare for a visiting critic? In Murcia, a region in the southeast of Spain, the answer this month is: they pay.

Correspondence has surfaced from a regional association to the wineries entitled “Urgent: winery participation in Jay Miller’s visit.” Jay Miller reviews Spanish wines for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. The secretary of the association lays out the following fees:
* €200-300 fee for each wine sent to taste
* €500 per wine selected for a tasting “masterclass”
* €1,000 euros for a winery to receive a visit from Jay Miller

The total sum sought from wineries was €29,000 ($40,000).

I spoke with the sender of the email, Read more…

Mike Steinberger tweeted that along with the high-profile layoffs announced yesterday at Slate, his wine column also fell victim the budgetary ax. While the decision may seem penny-wise for the bean counters at Washington Post (Slate’s parent), it’s pound-foolish to cut an original column with great substance; what are they going to run now, lower-cost, pageview-baiting slideshows? Ugh. It’s too bad since I have tremendous respect for the publication, both the crackling editorial and the internet-only, free model from their first day of publication.

Mike writes with tremendous verve, brio, wit, knowledge, and a nose for a good story as well as a great wine; this is a major blow for wine writing. Fortunately, his writing will continue on his blog, WineDiarist.com. Check it out, subscribe, do what it takes to keep his writing coming.

Since Mike would probably never do a roundup of his own columns, and you probably don’t have anything better to do on this rainy, August afternoon, here are a select few nuggets from his run there, 2002 – 2011. Read more…

SIPPED: English
“Drops of God,” a serial comic book from Japan that is purportedly addictive and moves the Asian wine markets, will finally be published in English next month. (Backgrounder)

SIPPED: horreur!
Lafite actually declined eight percent since April. [Liv-Ex]

SIPPED: getting pissy
Gerard Depardieu, vineyard owner, makes air travel fun for everyone. [NYPost]

SPIT: breathalyzer
An iPhone app tells you if you’re buzzed. But you don’t breathe into; rather, it’s a sobriety test of data entry. Would Gerard have passed the test?

SPIT: beer
Wine in Thailand: It’s not just for old, rich folks anymore, apparently. [BK]

SPIT and left for dead: bad web design
A Slate columnist examines the incredible suckiness of restaurant websites. Winery web developers, take a look!