Perhaps I'm soured by the industry, but this smacks of payoff to me

WINE TALK
1

I’m just overly cynical about the pro reviewer marketplace, I guess…
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2

If they paid for that, they should have at least asked for no grammatical errors.

3

I have so little regard for Suckling’s opinion, that I’m not sure payoff would make his opinion less credible.

4

Cynical was the word you were looking for. And it’s Suckling so cynicism is a reasonable response. But let it pass and smile about something worthwhile. Like all those A’s your daughter got.

5

That damned 100 point glass…it makes Two Buck Chuck a wine of the year candidate.

Damn, that’s one fine glass.

6

Been too long since this was posted:

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I find his relentless enthusiasm and optimism inspiring. That Jimmy Suckling is a real glass-half-full fellow.

8

So much this.

9

I’m 100 pts on this…
To be fair I haven’t considered him a ‘critic’ since he left WS. I know he does criticism, but he’s more of a marketing guy with his tasting events and videos, so I’m less offended by that than I would be if it were Galloni or Martin or even Jancis.
I give him credit for understanding where he can make inroads with his unusual business model by embracing the Hong Kong/ China market & getting his foot in the door before most other western critics.
That I know this simply from 3rd party social media coverage (I have no interest in his thoughts on wine) suggest he knows how to leverage social media better than most in the business.

10

gold

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It came as a shock to CyT too. Just got off the phone with one of their directors.

12

Nuts !

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I find his relentless enthusiasm and optimism inspiring.

Me too!

Go get them 100 point wines Jamie old buddy!

Love me some hunerd-poyners.

14

Known by his good friends as Jimmy Jams, all he wants to do is spread the love. Which he does. All over the place.

15

I got an email offering today for the 2007 Ygay, touting a 98-point rating by Suckles.

I was like, “wow, that’s like a failing grade.”

16

That’s not the full story. The Suckle Pig gave the label a 98. He later upgraded it to 100 points upon hearing the cork pop.

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I know this throws a wet blanket on this thread, but having now worked in marketing for 12+ years in this industry and having met most of the major critics on multiple occasions, I’ve yet to experience a “pay for play” scenario with any critic/publication. I know there are plenty of conspiracy theories that say otherwise, but just speaking from my personal experience, I’ve yet to see it…

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Has Suckling dispensed the most 100 pt ratings of any of the ‘major’ critics?

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Crazy? Yes, Jim now not living Tuscany, will leaving soon living Chile in…

20

All the super high scores aside, this has always been a WS favorite. Has anyone had the wine? I have very much enjoyed past vintages albeit not quite to the level of WS. It seems a shame to diss the wine though because of the messenger without being able to try it.

As for Todd’s question, it is certainly a sad, but very reasonable reaction to seeing that. Of course, its not like he got free wine to post on Wine Berserkers or anything like that. pileon