Not making any friends, but everyone knows I support it! ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
Rattling Sabres: James Suckling, Robert Parker, Wine Writer Ethics and Bullying
Interesting quote from another board…
“if you are able to find another wine informational source as reliable, comprehensive, independent and as respected as we are throughout the world, I invite you to take your money there,and cancel your subscription”
Being skilled at not making friends is an art form for some critics…
To be clear, this is not simply another piece that rips Parker. There is plenty of that already, some deserved, some not. In this case, I find the recent threats of litigation to be serious and worthy of attention. SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) is a real problem. I’m generally a fan of federalism, but the hodgepodge of state laws dealing with SLAPP (or not) tends to lead to forum shopping, which is a problem in itself. But as I say in the piece, I don’t think either critic was going to get to the point of forum shopping for a defamation suit, because I think it was simply a threat to silence with no intention of pursuing legal action.
Either way, I find it important to stand up for journalists when they’re threatened. I’ve been on Jim Budd’s end, many times. Sometimes the threat is enough to convince a news organization to shut down a story.
Is it me or does the little cherub fighting over the grapes look like RP
Totally looks like Parker! Sue them!
I would add that not only ‘journalists’ get threatened when writing about critics. It’s been a couple years for me, personally, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time when he re-funds his attorneys to reach out and bully me once again.
Todd, is there any background on that, here on WB?
(I tried the search function, to no avail)
The posts are probably archived by now, as it was early on. Just some attorney bullying when I setup WB, nothing that needs repeating.
Interesting article, Todd - although I have to admit I found the link to Jacqueline Friedrich’s on-going discussion with Jim Budd on Domaine Baumard to be even more interesting. I actually enjoyed Ms. Friedrich’s book on the Loire, as I thought it was both passionate and well-written, but as you wade your way through her excerpts of the thread/mano-a-mano between her & Jim, after a while she comes across as nothing more than a shill for Baumard. And that’s not intended to either give credence to Budd’s claims or to criticize Baumard’s wines, which I generally enjoy, but merely to comment on Friedrich’s approach to the debate, which seems to be to offer no facts whatsoever from her side, and merely disparage everything Budd writes in a “Jane, You ignorant slut” type of discussion.
Definition of SHILL
1 a : one who acts as a decoy (as for a pitchman or gambler);b : one who makes a sales pitch or serves as a promoter.
Dear Bob, I am not now nor have I ever been a shill for the Baumards. I met the Baumards in 1989 while researching “A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire.” I have tasted almost every wine they have ever made and have interviewed both Jean and Florent numerous times and admire both the men and their wines.
I also consider that Jean Baumard was one of the few vignerons upholding the reputation of Anjou as a great wine producing region during the black years before, say, 1985. Included in this group are Jean and Jacques Boivin, Dominique Jaudeau, and Francois Roussier.
The Baumards, however, were a case apart. For reasons unknown to me, they were constantly under attack – for their method of planting vines, for the style of wines they made and so forth. During a drive from Paris to the Loire with Rene Renou in 1991, the future head of the INAO described to me how much he hated the Baumards, how their wines were like “orphans” within their respective appellations and how he wanted to crush them. We argued over this for the entire journey.
I tell you this to give you an idea how the Baumards have been under siege within their own region for decades – all the while turning out world class wines.
As for my involvement, at the risk of sounding self-righteous, the guiding principle in my life has always been, in a word, justice. Hardly an easy path to take in life, it has cost me more difficulty than you can imagine. (I even – unwittingly – got into a Facebook battle with Marcella Hazan over the issue of celebrity chefs like Ferran Adria and Thomas Keller.)
You needn’t take me at my word. A brief outline of my cv will do the job: anti-war and civil rights activist, underground and alternate press journalist, legal aid lawyer/public defender, shall I go on?
When I saw Jim’s Oct 2010 post of a photograph allegedly of Baumard’s vines in Quarts de Chaume, a photo Jim believed proved overcropping by the Baumards, I wrote a comment and, in response, Jim agreed to sit down with the Baumards and ask them about this. He did not do that.
To my knowledge, the first time he approached Florent was at the 2012 Salon des Vins de Loire. I honestly feel that he has not been acting like a journalist but rather as a prosecutor and a bully (as he has the bully pulpit).
I would respond in the same manner in any situation in which I felt such unjust or biased reporting was being written and in which I felt that my knowledge of the parties and the circumstances might shed light – as well as introduce a more balanced perspective – on the matter.
I see no need to provide “evidence” in favor of the Baumards other than to say: they are preparing a dossier for the Conseil d’Etat and are awaiting a decision by that body; that they are a modest family winery that has always endeavored to make the best wine possible and that, finally, the proof is in the tasting.
Jacqueline, I didn’t say you WERE a shill, I said you came across as one. I think early in the thread you mentioned you had been a trial lawyer. Maybe that’s why you have felt the need (at least in the excerpts of the on-going discussion/debate included on your own website) to continue to atttack, attack, and then attack again.
I like Baumard’s wines - I’ve enjoyed them for many years (in fact, truth be known, I may have actually read about them initially in your book), and still have some of his '90 Coteaux de Layon in my cellar. And as you say, he/they may literally have been in the vanguard of improving wine quality in the Loire back in the “dark days”, as you have referred to them. None of which, at least in my opinion, has the slightest bit of relevance to the comments that Jim has made - in fact, he himself has posted of his admiration in the past for Baumard’s wines.
Sometimes folks get so into an argument that they lose sight of how they appear in the eyes of a disinterested observer - I can tell you that prior to reading your comment on the Evan Dawson article, I had never even visited your website before, but was drawn their yesterday solely by your comment about Jim’s lack of journalistic professionalism (my paraphrase), so I am truly the quintessential “disinterested observer”, and I can only tell you that in my reading, you are coming across like a pitbull, and at least in what I read, other than questioning Jim, have yet to offer any facts whatsoever to support your own point of view. Which is, of course, your prerogative, as it is your website, just as it is my right to observe that in my opinion you are coming across as a Baumard shill.
I did very much like your writing style in your original book on the Loire, though (not that I believe that compliment on your past work will make you feel any better about my current observation of your discourse with Jim) ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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Jacqueline,
You wrote:
“The Baumards, however, were a case apart. For reasons unknown to me, they were constantly under attack – for their method of planting vines, for the style of wines they made and so forth. During a drive from Paris to the Loire with Rene Renou in 1991, the future head of the INAO described to me how much he hated the Baumards, how their wines were like “orphans” within their respective appellations and how he wanted to crush them. We argued over this for the entire journey”.
I’m tempted to say that “il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu”.
Either there’s a foul, totally ungrounded conspiracy, perhaps manipulated by aliens, out to get Baumard, or else there’s something about the way he does things, or his attitude that rubs people up the wrong way. If a bunch of people don’t like them, is this pure fantasy on their part? Just jealousy?
I know nothing about this issue, but the apparent paranoia factor here strikes me as very odd.
In Bordeaux, people criticize Perse and Parker and Rolland, and even if you are mostly for these guys, you can see why others might be anti.
They are innovators and sucessful on many fronts, and there will always be people who don’t like that.
So what IS it about Baumard that bothers people, please.
I find it hard to believe that the criticisms you speak of are totally groundless.
Best regards,
Alex R.
Bob, I prefer to think of myself as a terrier rather than a pit bull.
Bob & Alex, I’m working on a longer piece about the Baumards right now but it won’t be finished any time soon as I have research to do and am working on Volume II (Touraine) of Earthly Delights from the Garden of France.
In the interim, I would be happy to share with you a paper on cryoselection delivered by Ribereau-Gayon if I could find a way to post a pdf file on this site.
Jacqueline, hopefully not to go too “off-topic” in a thread about Evan’s article, but I just realized (by viewing Amazon’s site) that you have a new book out, although not quite a sequel as it seems more geographically focused than the original. So if Earthly Delights, v. 1 is Sancerre-focused, am I correct in assuming we will get a volume on Chenin? And one on Muscadet as well (I can’t recall if you dealt with Muscadet in the original book,as it has been a while since I picked it up). Just curious how you see this evolving in terms of future volumes.
Here’s the lowdown: The University of Calif Press – the best wine publisher these days, IMHO – asked me to do an update of the first book. There have been so many profound changes in the Loire since the first book that I wanted to write something much more detailed. UCP limited me to 125k words and rejected the idea of splitting the Loire into three major sections. So I decided to self-publish 3 volumes. I published Volume One (The Kingdom of Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, etc) this fall. I’m now working on Volume II, Touraine. The third volume will cover Saumur, Anjou and Muscadet. (I put the first draft of my chapters on the Cote Roannaise and the Cotes de Forez on my website.) I’ve proposed doing an abridged version for UCPress.
Sadly, there is no publisher who will buy a very detailed book on a small wine region – unless it’s Bordeaux or Burgundy or Champagne.
Very cool - like I said, I enjoyed your prose in the first book. I can’t recall what winery you were referring to at the time, but in my somewhat hazy recollection there was a description of a scene where you were either outside or in a cave grilling food and drinking wine, and I found the whole passage quite evocative .
Sancerre is one of those wines that I always enjoy yet never seem to buy enough of (and to be fair, it’s much easier to track down Chablis or Pepiere Muscadet in the wine stores I normally deal with, whereas finding a Thomas Labaille Sancerre Chavignol requires some effort). Best of luck with your future volumes, and I think I’ll be picking up volume 1 next time I place an order with Amazon.
Oh, and even if you found my initial post unsettling, I note that it was enough of a “lure” to get you registered here and posting, so welcome aboard. Any time we have an expert in a given wine area participate in our discussions it adds to the overall Board’s knowledge base, and while I can’t say the posts on Loire Valley wines are frequent, when they are made the folks behind them tend to be quite passionate (and look no further than posts on Baudry’s Chinon’s for proof!).
Oh, and Todd, I do apologize for the massive thread drift here - I never anticipated that Jacqueline might actually “join the party” when I made my initial observation, but we have digressed quite a bit from Evan’s initial post. ![[popcorn.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/1/1ca9f29573458cca2424a66a50d6c1261081dd3e.gif "[popcorn.gif]"){kind=small}
No worries. I’m certainly interested in what Jacqueline and Jim have to say. My quick observation on the spat is much like yours, Bob. I thought Jim could have done better to ascertain whether the green grapes he saw en masse were, in fact, intended for QdC. However, he has a number of legitimate questions, and I find the long back-and-forth to appear little more than one writer going hard and the other writer saying, “Get off their back!”
I’m very interested in Jacqueline’s books. Nice to see her here.