He resigned from the association. I’m not quite sure what that means unless it just means that he figured he’d be kicked out for something like conduct unbecoming, or something similar. It was never clear how he got his certification anyway. I’m curious tho - if he resignes, does that mean he’s no longer a master? Now is he just a sub like everyone else? Funny that they said he was moving into sports and music promotions - I thought that’s what he started out doing and wine was a way to make a few dollars quickly.
At any rate, on a far more positive note, for those who haven’t seen it, Neal did a nice job on first foray out.
Dear Masters of Wine,
Pancho Campo has today informed the Institute, that in light of his move into more sports and music events and away from wine, he has decided to resign his membership of the Institute of Masters of Wine, effective immediately. We wish him the best in his new endeavours.
The MW is a certification. Other people have resigned in the past. To maintain your certification there are some hoops to jump through and those who have resigned in the past didn’t want to keep it up. Once resigned, you are no longer certified a MW.
Wasn’t it? I think he must have passed the exam just like the rest of the MW’s.
It is understandable to not want to maintain one’s status as an MW if they’re no longer working in the field, but the timing does make me think that maybe he suspected or knew that he would be kicked out for misconduct. If he ever might have wanted to get back into the wine business, that credential would likely be extremely helpful.
Statement with regard to the resignation of Pancho Campo
03 May 12
In light of Pancho Campo’s resignation from the Institute of Masters of Wine, the investigation into alleged breaches of the Institute’s Code of Conduct has been terminated.
I believe that Campo’s title is now “HMW”, or “HOSEDMaster of Wine”. No sports or music events with his fingerprints (still on file with Interpol, I believe) on them for me, thank you very much. And I won’t be buying any used Ferraris from him, either!
And I do believe there will be one on the market soon.
Doug - I assume he passed whatever certification there is, but he sort of came out of nowhere with no real background in wine, had some interaction with Jancis, and suddenly was a Master of Wine. It’s a title that belongs to one single organization so they can bestow it on whomever they please, but for people who knew of Pancho, it was a little incongruous. Anyhow, he’s off.
Peter - as far as Neal Martin’s reviews, he’s throttled back on the points quite a bit. On Priorat of all places! (Finally.) But he’s also, for the very first time at the WA, realized that Spain isn’t a single entity. He’s one of the first to realize that just as France, Italy, CA and other regions consist of very different places, so does Spain. So I don’t know that they’d all like me to post an entire essay, but here’s how he starts:
"It was my early decision to separate the “other” Catalonian D.O.s, for the simple reason that I wanted to spend a week concentrating upon the wines of Allela, Conca de Barberà, Costers del Segre, Empordà, Montsant, Penedès, Pla de Bagès, Tarragona and Terra Alta, without the shadow of Cava and Priorat looming over them…
I felt it important to approach the regions one by one and to compartmentalize my Catalonia report to see whether any conclusions can be made and judge whether one is making longer strides than another. "
It’s simple and actually quite obvious and while the verdict is still out, for me it’s encouraging that he made more effort to learn about Spain in a few months than any prior reviewer did in over 20 years. I’m not trying to shill or anything but I’ll give him some credit here.
Thanks, Greg, interesting. If RP retires, I may be tempted to resubscribe. They do have a lot of reviews, and I always enjoyed Neal and Lisa’s style. Galloni is good too.
I see. I don’t have any knowledge of the man’s history or process of learning and certification. Based on what I know of a couple of people who have taken the exam and are not MW’s, the IMW seems not to go around awarding the title without a candidate passing every portion of the (extremely rigorous) exam by the same standards to which every other candidate is held. I say this because I understand that these people who do not hold the title have come close and are certainly in the good graces of the Institute. Of course, that doesn’t mean that something outside of the system couldn’t ever happen, but I would be very surprised if the IMW would ever potentially compromise their reputation in that way. I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway.