Nice to see Eric shortlisted, would be even better to see him win. It’s unclear when the 10 final names are going to be made public, they only say “between March and November”.
The list is interesting insofar as it’s all over the place. A few names I don’t know at all, others that I am not sure are quite as influential as others on the list. Hard to compare apples and oranges, too. I also found it fun to see Parker listed as “Journalist”. Not sure about the Chairman of the MW Institute being selected, given the controversy. Jancis would have been a surer, and probably better bet.
You know for sure that Eric will be one of the winners - I wonder why Gary V is on there, as he’s no longer in wine, and hasn’t been for a year, at least. Apparently they aren’t terribly up-to-date? (like with Parker being listed as a Journalist)
Social media and marketing ventures now. He is actually still in wine through Pinterest, where he gives reviews and pimps stuff. But, he’s branding and moving towards producing through social media and consulting it would seem. And I think he has a book about brand development through blogging and social media. He does speaking events and stuff too. More focused on his rise to fame through the use of media than wine at this point.
I always find these lists interesting, and certainly the CellarTracker phenomenon is gaining more and more industry recognition with me as a figurehead of sorts. Here is my fairly standard response to them:
Gerard Basset is an amazing and inspiring guy having won worlds best sommelier after 3 tries in addition having the MS and MW credentials. I saw him conduct a tasting seminar of Languedoc wines this year at Vinisud.
For those that wonder, he is still a VERY active part of the WL family. His presence is no where near what it used to be from a consumer stand point (hence my many feel he’s no longer with the company), but he is still very much involved in what goes on with purchasing and much of the heavier innerworkings of the company.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}