"Greatest vintage EVER in ANY viticultural area"

WINE TALK
1

Just received that little bit of hyperbole (?) from Premier Cru in the newsletter today.

You can just guess who said it…

Unreal. I’m quite disappointed for a retailer to throw that out there. Greatest vintage EVER in ANY viticultural area! The best of all, all, all time, no matter what the varietal, year, or geographic area! Amazing!

2

and PC has kicked their pre arrival price of 07 clos de papes up another $25 to $149.99 due to this statement by RP

3

I have GOT to make this my new signature…oh, brother

4

I thought Suckling had already claimed that turf with the 2000 Barolo / Barbaresco…

5

Is it even a quote from Parker? Seems to be a quote of some guy paraphrasing Parker. I buy from PC but I always feel dirty reading their emails because of stuff like this.

6

According to PC: “In his inaugural e-newsletter he notes that 2007 Southern Rhone is the greatest vintage ever in ANY viticultural area!!!”

7

NM, that is the quote. That’s ridiculous

8

It is a ridiculous statement to say the least. I thought he was supposed to be an advocate for the wine consumer? The man has obviously lost it.

9

That was the quote from the advocate for the consumer yesterday.

As I have said before, he continues to pat himself on the back for 2007 CDPs, many of which have not been delivered stateside just yet and his final reviews not out yet.

Prices keep going up, but he just pays retail, right? After his final reviews are released?

Sorry, I had to say it.

10

Parker has become a shill for the wine industry.

11

I love how he is already hyping the 2009 vintage.

12

Such an irresponsible statement to make, on so many levels.

Then again, he also compared wine bloggers to terrorists (not terroirists).

13

Who is this parker fellow that you speak of? Sounds vaguely familiar…

14

Without wishing to rain on this parade, his quote was that it was the the greatest vintage he had ever tasted in any viticultural area. Clearly, not an absolute statement that it was the best ever.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programme of pissing from the stands based on incorrect quotes and pre-existing prejudices.

15

Dan, that makes a world of difference. I posted on the other board that the quote as picked up by PC was ludicrous but if he was in fact mis-quoted than shame on PC. I don’t see any issues with RP saying that it was the the greatest vintage he had ever tasted in any viticultural area. For as long as he has been doing this, it is a pretty amazing statement.

16

Please note that my post mentions it was from PC, Dan…

17

This was the exact quote from Parker…

As my report that will be coming out the end of October states, from top to bottom, this is the greatest vintage I have ever tasted in any viticultural area.

18

Indeed, so. However, it was an incorrect quote and one that everyone else jumped on to do the usual RP bashing. Moreover, your new tagline still has it and still falsely attributes it to RP even though you now know it to be a misleading and incorrect quote.

The reality is, as Paul noted, the extra words in the real quote make a world of difference and indeed make the bile in this thread pretty redundant.

19

It is still a meaningless statement because it is inherently tied to Parker’s own subjective (and idiosynchratic) tastes. Suppose, say, the Loire or the Valtellina experienced the most perfect imaginable 101-point vintage of all-time. Well, Parker doesn’t like those wines so obviously wouldn’t recognize it as such. It’s like when Parker makes comments about, say, the Right Bank doing better than the Left Bank in some Bordeaux vintage - well, maybe, but it’s not like you can divorce that judgment from the fact that Parker subjectively prefers Right Bank wines and therefore will perceive those wines as being better even if they are qualitatively on the same plane. Well, Parker subjectively prefers Chateauneuf-du-Pape and grenache over virtually all other regions and varieties, so any exceptionally good Chateauneuf-du-Pape vintage stands a pretty good chance of being the greatest vintage he’s ever tasted in any viticultural area - to him, and maybe to people who share the view that all wines should taste like 17%-alcohol grenache. So since the statement is so meaningless on a substantive level, all it is is hype. I guess he’s been a cog in the hype machine for awhile.

20

Nothing against Parker…I believe he likes it better than any other vintage he’s tasted. But I just don’t see how anything can be the greatest vintage in any viticultural area and not be from Burgundy. [bow.gif]

Cheers!