Lots of familiar faces there, lots of total unknowns as well, lots of undeserving as well.
As I scrolled thru, I kept thinking “Where’s my hero, Robert Parker”. There he was…down towards
the end.
To tell the truth, none of those folks have much influence over my buying habits. There are lots
more folks here on WB that have more influence on what I buy/try than any of those big names.
I cannot think of a single wine I was influenced to buy by Robert Parker, even though I followed
him from the very start. Though he has influenced me to avoid a lot of wines, I must say.
Tom
I thought it was a good list. Disclaimer - I write for www.Intowine.com, but had nothing to do with the list. One can argue with the order or a few choices on or off the list, but overall, I think Michael did a great job.
My issue with the list is the number of people on that list have bankrupted a business, or had a giant VC bonfire at some point in their life. Not very influential if they can’t keep the lights on.
I’m also not sure how a guy who sits in a glass tower of a mega billion company actually “influences” the market from a wholesaler when it’s really their suppliers (like Treasury and Constellation) are really doing the leg work for them?
Well…my interpretation of this article was not that it was a ranked listing of the influence these folks had. Otherwise, they would be touting who was #1. And Parker would not be ranked below Laube. And Sweet Alice not be #98. But I could be wrong.
Tom
It’s a list, subjective, but not too bad. Definitely tries to include a pretty wide variety of influencers.
But Tanzer’s bio is odd
61-Steven Tanzer: is editor and publisher of the critically acclaimed bimonthly International Wine Cellar, an independent journal read by wine lovers in all 50 states and 34 countries, and translated into French and Japanese. Tanzer has also served as Senior Editor and wine columnist for Food & Wine magazine, and wine columnist for Forbes FYI, and has authored two wine books, and writes the wine blog, Winophilia.
Glad someone’s giving the Consolidated Mega Brands and their large institutional buyers of plonk their due…
Not to be a total hater - it’s hard to argue to sheer effectiveness of buying wine at CostCo - but the effects are chilling on small wine producers in multiple regions and for every Barefoot, there are at least 500 small, independent wineries that get zero press and zero distribution.