Jancis Robinson on the next cult wines

[Adam_Frisch]

I can’t speak for all wines, but this is how each reviewer gets (or used to get) our wine:

Wine Spectator - We hand deliver 2 bottles of each wine to their office in Napa. No payment for the wine.

Pinot Report - We ship 2 bottles of each wine to their office in Sonoma. No payment for the wine.

Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine - They purchase our wine at retail, so we never know what’s being reviewed.

California Grapevine - We ship 1 bottle of each wine to their office. No payment for the wine.

Paker - We ship 1 bottle of each wine to his office in Maryland. If he’d asked for the wine, he asks to be billed. We billed at a silly low amount. If submitting unsolicited, no payment for the wine. The last two vintages we submitted (2006 and 2007) were sent in unsolicited, and Parker didn’t review them. We sent them in early because he used to ask us to ship in July . We no longer submit wines.

Tanzer - We ship 2 bottles of each wine to his office. No payment for the wine. We no longer submit wines.

Burghound - We ship 2 bottles of each wine to his office. No payment for the wine. We no longer submit wines.

Wine Enthusiast - We ship 2 bottles of each wine to their office. No payment for the wine. $900-ish per review to include a label image in the magazine. We no longer submit wines.

Thank you Corey. Illuminating.

I did try to submit to Vinous/Galloni, Jeb Dunnuck and James Suckling, but they all sent out emails basically saying “if we want to review wines from you, we’ll ask you to submit a sample”. Which they haven’t. Dacanter never responded. So far Hawk at Jancis Robinson’s US arm has taken some (and was very responsive), Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator, Esther Mobley at SF Chronicle (who even called to do a kind of informal interview) and a few Instagram wine reviewers like Wine1Percent etc. Honestly, the online ones result in more instant sales than anything - it seems like that’s where the future is. The print stuff I’m not so sure will result in anything, so I might concentrate on those that have a good social media presence and skip the rest in the future. Just have to be careful with the “influencers” online that basically see you as a way to support their wine habit/lifestyle. But I’m finding my way still, no idea what’s best.