More Reviewer Changes at the Wine Advocate

Received this this morning - and the changes keep coming . . .

Dear Reader,

It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the newest member of our reviewer team: Anthony Mueller. An accomplished sommelier and presenter based in Napa Valley, California, Anthony comes to us with more than 20 years of experience in the food and wine industry. He has worked as a sommelier in some of the top restaurants in the US, including the Michelin three-star The French Laundry in Yountville, California, Tribute in Michigan and Tarbell’s in Arizona. He holds numerous wine certifications, including the Advanced Sommelier certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 3 Award in Wines, the Certified Specialist of Wine from the Society of Wine Educators and the Certified Sake Advisor certification from the Sake School of America. When he is not sparring with his friends in the sport of blind tasting, Mueller enjoys riding his motorcycle, exploring the beauty of Napa Valley. Although he has never been to culinary school, Mueller enjoys cooking elaborate meals in his small kitchen at home, preparing dishes made with ingredients grown from his home garden. Anthony will be taking over reviewer responsibility for the regions of Washington State and South Africa.

I would also like to take this opportunity to announce that Erin Brooks, our reviewer for Oregon, will be taking on more territory in the USA’s Pacific Northwest. From February 1st, Erin will be sharing the reporting of Sonoma County with me, focusing on the Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Zinfandels, while I will maintain responsibility for the Bordeaux varieties from this region. Erin will also take over the majority of the coverage of California Central Coast, while I will reassume some coverage of this vast area depending on grape/producer. And I will continue to cover all of Napa Valley and Bordeaux.

With the expansion of our reviewer team comes increased coverage of some of our most important regions and a few new regions to add to our world of wine reviews. William Kelley, who has already been doing an amazing job with stepping up our Burgundy coverage, has recently established a base for himself in Beaune and will be giving Burgundy even more love and attention beginning this year. He will also be taking over coverage of Champagne, English wines and Madeira. Meanwhile, Stephan Reinhardt, who had an overflowing plate of key regions, will be focusing even more of his attention now on coverage of Germany, Austria, Alsace, the Loire Valley and Switzerland.

The responsibilities of our other stellar reviewers—Joe Czerwinski, Luis Gutiérrez, Monica Larner, Mark Squires and Liwen Hao—remain unchanged. Full details of areas of responsibility and bios for our entire reviewer team are available to view here.

Warm wishes,

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Editor-in-Chief

Don’t see many changes to Wine Spectator. They must love working there.

Interesting news about Anthony Mueller. I’m curious to see what a Napa Valley-based wine professional will think of Washington wines. New palates into the world of profession wine reviewing can’t be a bad thing, I suppose.

Update/edit: I googled him, and he would almost surely be a guy who I know I’ve seen post on (I think?) the Spectator forums under AZWineGuy.

Have to keep that SQN and Saxum love flowing. Some much for unbiased reviews.

WTF is a “wine presenter?”

Somebody who curates tasting?

I assumed it was a synonym to sommelier. I present wines every day:”is this the wine you’ve ordered madam?”

yeah, except she said “accomplished sommelier and presenter,” which suggests they aren’t the same thing.

I immediately thought about Vanna White or the women in hot pants at car shows

I guess Kelly’s 96 point scores were not cutting it.

Well then, I’m really looking forward to the Mueller report!

To be fair, I look awful in hot pants. Also, the role of a sommelier doesn’t seem so much to be the presenter of guest’s choices anymore, but what Noble Rot dubbed Obi Wine Kenobi: “this is not the wine you want…”

Also, in all seriousness I think it might be a fancy title for someone who holds tastings for an audience.

Neal, you can call me a “wine presenter”. I sponsored and hosted a wine seminar once. It was quite the hit. The good thing was, after all the accolades and praise - I’m pretty sure everyone was crunk - I did not quit my day job. I only took the next day off, medical necessity.

Actually, there was also that time when MarcF surreptitiously videotaped me educating the boys on the glories of Colares and pre-phylloxera wines. They were riveted. I nailed it.

Robert “Wine Presenter” A. Jr.

If I had photoshop chops, I’d stick your face on this

(BTW, this would be a good look for you)

I’m much curvier. You’d prolly wanna use Ashley Graham as the base.

What I like is the “sport of wine tasting”.

Kind of like that movie Somm - exactly what is wrong with all those certifications, titles, etc.

Anyway, more people I never heard of who are supposed to be “experts”.

Hey! Maybe WA can get a business expert to help them figure out that signing up a slew of random people to review wine isn’t the way to ensure that they’re the most relevant and respected wine publication out.

So Sonoma is now in the Pacific Northwest?

Just remember folks.

“There is a plethora of good wine writers out there. It’s a buyer’s market,”

Haha…yeah, I definitely noticed that, too. Made me wonder who will be reviewing wines from the East Coast…you know, wines from Colorado, etc.

It’ll be interesting to see her take on the ‘Central Coast’ for sure - I do not have any experience with her. Curious what WA and OR reviews have been like under her belt.

Congrats to William Kelley, a frequent visitor and contributor to this board. He’ll be expanding coverage of Burgundy and taking over Champagne, something I know he’s quite excited about!

Cheers.