Dr. Big J is gone from WA?

[Bob_Foster]

Well I for one surely believe Miller’s claim that his departure had nothing to do with the Spain fiasco. Of course I also believe that O.J. is out there hunting for the real killer of his wife.

[KyleCWilkinson]

@Bob Foster

Well I for one surely believe Miller’s claim that his departure had nothing to do with the Spain fiasco. Of course I also believe that O.J. is out there hunting for the real killer of his wife.

The title of Miller’s book very well might be “If I Did It: Confessions of a Paid Winery Visitor”

[Bob_Wood]

@Anthony Lombardi

I agree with Eric. I will say this however. I am optimistic that the following can now happen:

Actual, professional coverage of Oregon wines

Sure. And the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. Or they could hire Harvey Steiman.

[Roy_Hersh]

I agree with Eric about Squires and Portugal. I know the vast majority of the wines he has been rating and find his scores and assessments are pretty spot on most of the time.

One thing that has not been mentioned, although few of you will give a darn, but Jay Miller also did the 2007 Vintage Port review for TWA. N. Martin has a good feel for Port, but Squires is already going to the country to assess the DOC wines, so he might as well pick up the Ports too. I’d hate to see Port no longer receive the attention of The Wine Advocate.

[Mike_Miller]

I pay very little attention to the WA these days. Who, if anyone, is reviewing Burgundy for them. And are the Burgundy reviews still terribly untimely?

[Humberto_Dorta]

@Anthony Lombardi

@Humberto Dorta

Good one Whetstone.
Btw sucks to be Quilceda Creek

It shouldn’t suck, David seems plenty capable of reviewing their wines in the context of the style in which they are produced. What it means is there can be room at the table for more than one style and producers like Cadence and Seven Hills who make great wines will be on an even playing field.

No doubt. I think this is agood thing for WA. I dont see David handing out 100s and 99s to QC year after year and as it is Qc started turning up at the plcb last year. I think this switch will hurt them considerably. Fwiw i buy their wines, they are very good just not perfection good.

[Ken_V]

@Mike Miller

I pay very little attention to the WA these days. Who, if anyone, is reviewing Burgundy for them. And are the Burgundy reviews still terribly untimely?

Antonio is reviewing Burgundy now, and the reviews are becoming more timely.

[David_Bu3ker]

David Schildknecht is not an expert on Oregon from what I know, but he is far from ignorant on the subject. He provided me some unofficial recommendations that were spot on a few years ago.

[Ken_V]

@David M. Bueker

David Schildknecht is not an expert on Oregon from what I know, but he is far from ignorant on the subject. He provided me some unofficial recommendations that were spot on a few years ago.

He is an expert on Burgundy. And isn’t that what they’re trying to make up there?

[Loren_Sonkin]

I wish Jay all the best. No need to bash him.

I like David personally and love his reviews. He has a remarkable palate and I am sure will have no problem in tasting the wines of the northwest. Don’t forget, he has served as a retailer and a distributor. Besides, if he can review Burgundy, I would think its a promotion to do Oregon. You know, better wines, better terroir…

[dbailey]

@José F. Rodríguez

@Brian G r a f s t r o m

What did Jay know about Spanish wines? The guy “needed” a “handler” fer Chrissakes! I don’t think one needs to “know” the wines of a particular region to accurately review them; does such knowledge help the reviewer in that endeavor? Absolutely. That said, I don’t think such knowledge is necessary. Shit, I honestly think I could do a better job reviewing wines than Jay Miller, and he surely “knows” more than I. “Knowledge” only gets you so far — then you have to actually have a palate.

Miller did not know that much about Spanish wines when Parker appointed him back in the fall of 2006. I am no Miller fan neither implied he knew anything about Spain. I was pointing out that Martin does not know that much about Spanish wine and he had shown a strong bias against them. For those reasons I do not feel that Martin is an improvement over Miller.

Regarding knowledge on a region and its grapes, it always helps the reviewer to know about them, espeially if the reviewer is throwing drinkability windows on the wines reviewed. Without that experience the reviewer’s drinkability windows are shots in the dark.

The bottom line is that you are paying the reviewer for recomendations based on his experience/expertise not for learning about the region and its wines at your expense.

Where has neal shown a strong bias against spanish wines?

[Nola_Palomar]

Wow, my head is spinning!

[Tom_Lee]

@Humberto Dorta

@Anthony Lombardi

@Humberto Dorta

Good one Whetstone.
Btw sucks to be Quilceda Creek

It shouldn’t suck, David seems plenty capable of reviewing their wines in the context of the style in which they are produced. What it means is there can be room at the table for more than one style and producers like Cadence and Seven Hills who make great wines will be on an even playing field.

No doubt. I think this is agood thing for WA. I dont see David handing out 100s and 99s to QC year after year and as it is Qc started turning up at the plcb last year. I think this switch will hurt them considerably. Fwiw i buy their wines, they are very good just not perfection good.

“I think this switch will hurt them considerably.”

Care to elaborate on that? What exactly do you envision?

Tom

[andy_velebil]

@Roy Hersh

I agree with Eric about Squires and Portugal. I know the vast majority of the wines he has been rating and find his scores and assessments are pretty spot on most of the time.

One thing that has not been mentioned, although few of you will give a darn, but Jay Miller also did the 2007 Vintage Port review for TWA. N. Martin has a good feel for Port, but Squires is already going to the country to assess the DOC wines, so he might as well pick up the Ports too. I’d hate to see Port no longer receive the attention of The Wine Advocate.

It’s sad that, yet again, the TWA has left Port out in the cold. Seems no one will review it at the moment since no mention was made of who would take that region over. Then again, it isn’t really much of a surprise as TWA has done a horrible job in its coverage of one of the oldest demarcated wine regions in the world (Port). They only covered Port in classic declared years and then only just enough to get by. I’ve never understood why that was…

As for Squires, and as others mentioned, despite what you think of him as a person he’s done a pretty darn good job reviewing Portuguese wines.

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

@Eric LeVine

The note they posted eRP was very nice and thoughtful and even rebutted the notion that Jay was stepping down to appease his critics or because of the latest events. Regardless, let’s just be classy and let him ride into the sunset. Even if I don’t agree with his take on many wines, when I met him earlier this year he was very nice and professional.

Here I very much agree. Never met Dr. Big J, but from most accounts he’s a very good guy who tried to be helpful. He simply got in too fast, too far over his head and held out longer than he should have.

@Eric LeVine

Squires the person is just an awful, prickly thing who rubs me the wrong way more than most any other creature or object. However his reviews of Portuguese wines are shockingly studious, humble and well done. It’s too bad, I think you are right that he would have had an interesting take on Spain.

Here there’s diagreement. I’ve had a handful of dinners with Mark. Prickly, sure, he absolutely can be. Once on the defensive, additional pushing just makes it worse. If you focus on the negative, you’ll miss out on the positives. He can be quite interesting, and unusually informative (his wine knowledge is impressive). He has a strong work ethic and can be incredibly generous.

For Spain and South America, Squires would do a capable job. I’m not sure Neil or David are right. A Spanish version of Galloni would be ideal, someone with a thorough understanding of the ropes and the pitfalls.

RT

[Ed_Murray]

Schildknecht huh? Excellent! I expect we’ll promptly receive the 2010 Oregon Pinot reviews sometime in 2014!

[Humberto_Dorta]

@Tom Lee

@Humberto Dorta

“I think this switch will hurt them considerably.”

Care to elaborate on that? What exactly do you envision?

Tom

I started buying QC in 2004. When their cab got 100 in 2001 it started a frenzy that seemed to end after 2005. I remember seeing the 2004 go for $200 on wine commune and that one was scored 99 by TWA is I remember correctly. I also remember Jay saying that 05 was going to be the QC of the century (that is of course paraphrasing) After that the QC furor seemed to die down, even with the continued 99 and 100 scores. You can pick up QC now on WC for less than release at times (I know because I did a few months ago.) QC red is now available on the PLCB website, 4 years ago the idea would have been laughable. And again, this is with the superlative scores that Jay was handing them year in and year out. I cant imagine David will continue with the 99/100 carousel though I do think the wine is well made and deserving of high praise and it will probably get it but I suspect even at 94-96 they will have a problem selling through given the signs the last few years. I guess we’ll see.

[Eric_LeVine]

The 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 cabs are the ones with 100 points. I think the 2001 was a lowly 99, and the 1999 had 98 as I recall.

QC red has a pretty broad production and historically has been seen in a lot of restaurants. Seeing that on PLCB is not a sign of demise, but the flagship cab at $115 or $125 is a far cry from the 1999 vintage when one could pick it up for $72 with case discount.

[Mark_Golodetz]

I get the feeling that Jay’s horse will collapse as he rides to the sunset.

Parker’s loyalty to Miller has cost him dearly. Just looking objectively at the havoc Jay has wrought:

it has cost his publication and Parker, personally, much of their credibility.

The reviews over many years of several important wine regions are suspect, not just because nobody knows whether there was actual wrongdoing, but Jay’s palate, at the best of times, was …well… suspect.

It destroyed a very good BB, a tremendous source of information from winemakers, consumers, writers etc, which with due respect to what is being done here, will never be equalled.

Hopefully the team he has assembled will learn their respective areas and bring back some of the Advocate’s former glory.

[M.Kaplan]

Mark, I agree with everything you wrote, above.

Who is the happiest member of Team Wine Advocate today? I vote for Mark Squires.

Who is the saddest? Pancho Campo, M.W.

Who is now the fattest? Robert Parker.