A rather interesting, if rambling and unfocused, article by DorothyGaiter in GrapeCollective magazine:
GaiterArticle .
I found it rather interesting in that she implies several wine writers (including LettieTeague and JonBonne) have plagarized some of her writing from their WSJ wine columns. It’s a strange/bizarre article from somebody whose writings I usually like. She goes on to pillory wine experts and has little use for Jon’s NewRules wine book.
Tom
The plagiarism charge is interesting since Lettie succeeded that Gaiter and Brecher as WSJ’s wine writer.
She acknowledges that. I think she wants to stay relevant but nobody is clamoring for her opinions.
OTOH, although the piece rambled quite a bit, I do agree with her central thesis, inasmuch as I can discern it. Talking of Jancis she says: "Naturally, she urged women to complement their interest and knowledge of wine with some formal educational program. More and more people, she said, are “demonstrating their commitment by getting their certifications.”
It demonstrates “commitment” to what? To participate in a program Jancis likes and is involved with and that pits her against Bonné who claims to have arrived at his expertise the same way Parker and all the folks at Vinous and most at WA did.
Dorothy suggests that rather than tell someone to read someone else’s rules, buy them twelve different wines and show them some different approaches. I like her for saying that. It’s by far the best way to learn - you can’t learn taste by reading about it.
All the other stuff can come later.
Bingo!
I finally read the piece. What rambling drivel, full of resentment at having been passed by in the wine world. And she acts as if every well-worn piece of wisdom about wine appeared first in the column she and her husband wrote. Please!
If she and her husband had such insights, why weren’t they able to carve out a niche for themselves in the democratized wine world of the 2010s?
The answer, I think, is because they never had anything interesting to say to people who actually know something about wine. That was always my gripe with their column. I don’t ever recall anything I read in any of their columns, and I did read them at the time.
It’s a balancing act for wine columnists in publications with broad audiences to straddle that line – offering something to the novice as well as those of us who have read it all (or think we have). I think Lettie Teague and Eric Asimov and Jancis Robinson have managed that feat pretty well. I never thought Gaiter and Brecher did. This just reminded me of how much their columns annoyed me, even without the resentment that’s piled on here.
She is in desperate need of an editor. Is that how she used to write at WSJ?
Is this some sort of “farewell”, where she gets those odd complaints off her chest at long last?
I must admit I enjoyed her and John’s pieces in the WSJ. A bit fluff, but usually entertaining and sometimes I learned something. Definitely her pieces back then were much tighter and well written.
Oh good. I’m glad it wasn’t just me – thought I had developed ADD when I eventually lost hope that she was coming to her point and decided I couldn’t wade in any further.
Interesting, I agree. I liked Dottie and John’s columns and was sad to see them leave the Journal. I had read them regularly. I find Lettie a bit insufferable, and have since her F&W days, though to be fair I’ve only ever picked up her columns when someone here or on another wine board comments on them.
The negativity in this piece was jarring. I do think the piece makes a point – that wine writers should be around to invite and inspire readers to join in the experience that wine is, with maybe a humble amount of guidance, rather than to try to turn everyone into an expert. That point could be made without the resentment that others have picked up on some of her ideas.
Conversely, I understand Dottie’s resentment, even many years after the fact, about being denied a job on account of skin color; I think maybe the actual diversity material in her column deserved a vehicle separate from the musings about viewpoint diversity.
– Matt
As a man of color, I understand her anger and perhaps, thin skin. When, as an outsider, you try and get a handle and appreciate something so basic to European culture, you quickly run into sexist, elitist, and racist attitudes that try to demean and deter those interests. So many little snipes that say, you don’t belong here. After a while it becomes hard to tell when people are being racist or just rude and or just ignorant. And those are not the same. The number of crass comments I have endured walking into wine shops or tasting rooms are scores. And I live in the Bay Area.
She came in from the outside with a love and enthusiasm for wine and outsiders view and the naive thought that she was welcome. She wasn’t.
I love wine and some of the stories that go with it, but my life history informs my approach. Trust the liquid on you tongue. Trust your own palate. Buy from people who treat you with respect. Most of the other stuff is salesmenship and bull.
Well said–from all sides. While there’s a good bit of frustration evident in the piece, I found it worth trying to reckon with the broader message.
Thanks, robert, it helps to hear that. Do you think Dottie’s racial position also informs her reaction to others picking up on her ideas without giving the credit/attribution that she would consider appropriate? Maybe my comment about separate vehicles was too hasty.
– Matt
Matt,
Yes I do. In my mind and perhaps hers, it is all one thing. Being disrespected.
You want to give people the benefit of doubt, but that becomes harder after awhile. I remember trying to explain to My English teacher in 8th grade why Huckleberry Finn was not a book that will work for black (Negro at the time). His attitude was, a great book is a great book for everyone. He could not or would not see the other side. That the “N”word was a barrier that would totally turn off black students and reenforce the feeling that school was not for them. This was 1969. You want to believe the so called experts but when they insult you…