100 Most Influential People in the WineWorld

As linked in TheWineTerroirist, this lists (in no particular order, as best I can tell)
the top 100 most influential people in the WineWorld:
https://www.intowine.com/intowinecoms-top-100-most-influential-people-us-wine-industry-2018

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

Interesting list, some may be more “powerful” in terms of C-suite execs at large retailers etc. rather than truly “influential”…

Damn. I was 101st again this year and just left off the list.

Lots of fun reading that, thanks!

The Top Five seems spot on, Tim Turner needs to up his game!

Of course, any list that doesn’t include the twin towers - Todd and Tom Hill - is, by definition, invalid, I appreciate their effort.

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.

John Kapon at 49 - that’s supposed to be a good list??? One would think fraudulent practices would prevent one from being on it.

Was surprised Alice Feiring was way back at 98 while James Suckling up at 33

Top 10 looks pretty solid - mad respect for the head of Costco’s department!

Fred Dame should have been in the top 50.

Costco’s buyer #1, $1.6B in 2016 sales, wow!

Suckling’s rating is like if they had sent Peyton Manning to the Pro Bowl in his final year - there by history but not current relevance.

Kudos to Chaplin coming in at #2.

I have heard of around 25% of them, which means …?

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

Surprised Daniel Johnnes did not make it, and perhaps also Levi Dalton.

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.

A lot of these descriptions and pics are recycled/canned and dated. Not much effort went into the copy or images here.

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.

Walgreen‘s dude is top 3? I can’t even buy wine at Walgreens.

The list is of those who influence the wine world, not a list of 100 people liked by Wine Berserkers.

This.

Brett Favre would be #1 of THAT list - he’s on EVERY POLL!

Only because not enough people can spell Ben Roethlisberger