In this post, Parker claims to buy his wine directly from retailers and he buys bordeaux futures.
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If this is true, he must not buy from PC.
More importantly, does anyone actually believe that he pays the same as you and me for his purchases?
He bought his wine from Jay Miller when he was a retailer. I would venture to say he got it at, or very close to wholesale.
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I certainly pay ridiculous electric bills"
Now THAT…THAT I believe…
He has purchased wine directly from us before. Never asked for a discount - though we provided him with a standard ITB discount - but not because he asked for it.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
I have no opinion as to this Parker chap, but is anyone else as pissed about this image as I am?
White tees after labor day? The humanity of it!
![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
More you go against Parker this way, stronger he will get out for his supporters.
Obviously he is probably the only one to know the truth, but, frankly : who cares if he buy or not and at which price ? My real concern about his work is if yes or no does he modify his scores according the names of the wines ? This is the reason why I did always ask a tasting in front of anyone who collect immediatly the scores before any “rewriting” in the office. I was the devil asking that.
This should be easily done since , as he says, he tastes blind.
But, of course, everyone understand that this is a pure dream ! He will never do it. GJE tasters do it evry time : quite a big difference, no ?
Why do I have this doubt ? Simply because the comments are many times far away from the scores. You doubt ? Just put in front of you some comments and just try to guess what was the score. Educational for sure.
This is why the defense of scores on the ground that they make the reviewer “accountable” is bunk - in fact they’re a very effective way of avoiding accountability - you can pan the wine in the text but then cover your ass from criticism by appending a respectable score.
To believe or disbelieve him, I’d have to give it some thought.
Which I haven’t.
He keenly remarked that he basically buys wines after barrel scores but not completed final scores, at least that is what I inferred from his remarks.
He buys a lot of in the gray market.
He once said he also purchases a lot from PC. Someone else can find that statement, from 2008 or 2009?
I would guess he buys a lot at retail and from lists, though the timing would be interesting. I mean, what’s the alternative? Sure, one can buy in Europe, but it’s a hassle, and often with weak dollar more expensive. Do you think whiolesalers are shipping him pallets?
I somehow guess no matter how many hoops they have to jump through, if he purchases at PC wine destined for Monkville is never delayed for years. But that’s just a guess.
The more interesting ethical questions are (a) what are the timing of his purchases vs reviews being published, and (b) are all of those wines shipped to MD under his special wine reviewer’s license, and if so was that the intent of the state ABC when license was issued?
Thats a great question
He certainly used to.
When I was a retailer in Baltimore, he bought from our store (89 point wines, too). He bought larger amounts from another store.
He also has a long history with Bassin’s and I would imagine that he buys Bordeaux futures there.
So, yes that is a true statement, AFAIK.
Serge
IMO, exposing critics for lies and deceit is one of the most positive items to come out of the wine industry in a while.
Yes, this is the crux of the matter. I really don’t care about his wine buying habits, but Francois has hit the nail on the head, IMHO.
I could absolutely give a damn about Parker’s honesty, his personal life, his spending habits, and the like of his employees, as long as his scores and notes on Napa Cab and Bordeaux continue to match my own palate (for other types of wine I look elsewhere). If he manages to do that by not tasting a single wine and just pulling numbers and words out of a black hole, more power to him.
“Do you really believe Parker”?
Of course… he said My Wines would be out in 2008 and … wait … never mind… 