I was wondering when this would happen. I am sure that Neal was chafing under Lisa esp with Bob out of the picture. I am not sure this will convince me to buy Vinous . . . but I’m thinking about it
I canned vinous earlier this year and kept TWA because I enjoy Neal and his writing, also I find some commonality of palate on a lot of wines , earlier today I cancelled my autorenew with TWA
Antonio is putting together an excellent stable of experts for regions around the world and from my perspective as an independent critic, the talent exodus from TWA isn’t a good sign. In Oregon, where I had tasting appointments all last week I was reminded through conversations with vintners that since 2011, there have been four different people covering the state for TWA, half of them now write for Vinous.
Wow. I was pretty bummed to see that Lisa did the most recent Napa report, especially since the editorial calendar said that Bob would review the wines. Now with Neal gone as well, there really isn’t anything left. Pretty sad. I first subscribed back in 1985, so it was a very long run, but it has been on the decline ever since the Board was put behind the pay wall.
Ian, we both can only dream of a wine world without points!!
As Albert Einstein says: “Insanity of humanity is infinite”
Lisa was pinch-hitting on the Napa/Sonoma report as Bob is recovering from some medical issues. The question at hand is whether Bob will return to continue his Cali reporting, or whether he has reached the point where he no longer wants or needs the grind.
I was wavering on vinous a little (my last paid subscription). Think they’re doing a solid job, just don’t feel a need for paid reviews much anymore. I’m quite a big fan of Neal, so this definitely ups my subscription for another year.
Ken, I think Greg’s point was priced from the winery, not what retailers and others are capitalizing on, as Bordeaux did when Parker was the king there. But you are 100% correct, Vinous scores ARE influencing the market. Maybe not in a wide spread panic kind of way that Parker did, but there is influence, and it’s growing. I had almost as hard of time getting my hands on 2013 Brovia Crus as I did Bartolo 2013. Something is really wrong there.
I think this was a brilliant move for both Neal Martin and Vinous. Join an A+ team, and jumping off of what is clearly a sinking ship. Two prominent critics leaving in one year is not a good look for WA.
Someone commented above about Tanzer retiring, and I believe that is 100% true, which is why Vinous could buy IWC.
I’m fascinated that vinous is making enough money to pay all of these guys? How profitable can it be?
The greatness of Bobby P continues, that he got out when he did.
+1
I was just thinking the same thing…however, maybe they are not currently and are currently losing money as they scale/ramp up the team and business. Wasn’t there a thread about Vinous raising capital recently? Maybe AG is now just “buying” a first rate team with a plan to break even in the future. Really hard to imagine that it could possibly break even with such a large staff and duplicative tasting trips using a conventional wine review/subscription model so there will likely be other avenues of growth and revenue.
I really wonder what this means for the WA - with RP on the side lines currently and with the loss of Jeb and now Neal, WA now has a staff made up of little known reviewers and many regions covered by people without extensive experience reviewing those regions. Maybe WA is a strong enough brand to survive and stay relevant (maybe more so outside the US?) but in a environment there that seemed ripe for someone to grab the heir apparent label to lose Antonio, then Jeb and now Neal must mean there are significant management issues. If RP retires or cannot continue for health reasons they have no star, and more importantly no rising star, to take the healm and be the face of the WA. At this point, particularly without RP reviews, the relevance to me has slipped below the WS and probably even with WE, neither of which I pay any attention to.
Only reason to keep my subscription now is for older reviews…onto Jeb and Vinous for new reviews.
Incredible coup for Galloni. He obviously is a great businessman and a great salesman.
Equity is the name of the game — my guess is that sales growth and not profits are the focus with a sale to a publisher the true value creating event in 5-7 years.
I think this was the long term plan when Vinous bought IWC, but I doubt there is any set date. I had dinner with Steve earlier this year and the fire is still burning in him. I think the purchase by Vinous allowed him to off-load the administrative burden (and I would assume give him something financially for retirement), but I don’t think his retirement from wine writing is imminent.
Far bigger than the loss of any single reviewer is the trajectory. Bob was letting TWA go long before it was sold. The new owners could not only not stop the slide they couldn’t change the downward spiral. There’s a reason Galloni left. There’s a reason Dunnick left. There’s a reason Martin left. The underlying decay or cancer is now fully malignant and I don’t see it being stopped Michelin or no Michelin.
TWA is sinking fast. I’ve been a subscriber for 10 years and agree with the sentiment that the business started going down hill when they made the bulletin board private. With the recent departures of Jeb and Neal coupled with the fact that Bob is no longer reviewing Napa, there is really no reason to remain a subscriber. Unfortunately, my palate doesn’t seem to align that well with Antonio on California wines, Suckling tends rate things 3 or 4 points too high(esp value wines) and Jeb is an unknown on Napa although I do like his Rhone and Central Coast reviews. I already subscribe to Jeb’s site and will probably subscribe to Vinous for Bdx coverage. I do like Vinous’ video content.
I have no inside knowledge, but this would be far from the first time a company is purchased, driven into the ground by new owners, and sold at a significant discount.
That’s the big question to me. The high end Bordeaux market really depends on the answer to this. WA’s role was like that of certified coin-grading in the numismatic market. They both created booming investment markets in these “collectibles” by standardizing the valuation metric. I was surprised at how successfully the WA sustained its influence when Parker retired from BDX. No doubt this was due to the credibility that NM gained over the years, as he wrote parallel reviews with Bob. But who, if anyone, is ready, willing, and able to assume the mantle now?
Or just closed completely. Happens all the time.