PUNCH: Parker & Parkerization of Wines

[Keith_Levenberg]

Ms Feiring isn’t a wine reviewer, she’s a wine writer.

-Al

She publishes a regular newsletter of her wine reviews, they just don’t have points.

[Al_Osterheld]

Yes, she writes reviews of individual wines, but I don’t think those are the main goal of her prose which is often only partially about wine.

-Al

[Jim_Brennan]

Mel’s post should not be ignored: '82 Bordeaux marked the beginning of the producer/retailer/Parker symbiosis and the marketing and sale of points. To say that Parker merely reflected American tastes is naive. The American wine buying public purchased Parker points, often blindly, sold by retailers. Producers had a much easier and more profitable time selling wines with big Parker points to importers/wholesalers/retailers.

I don’t think anyone is saying Parker didn’t play a big role in the growth and sales of wines that were in his generally preferred styles. Of course he did.

I think the distinction some of us had made is that (A) Parker was successful because his ratings proved to correlate well with what a lot of the wine drinking public turned out to like, as opposed to (B) Parker caused people to like those styles because he rated them highly. Had Parker given high scores to thin, vegetal, funky wines, that style wouldn’t have become popular – instead, Parker would never have had any success and nobody would have heard of him.

Chris, I think this is a bit of a red herring in the sense that you’re intentionally juxtaposing extremes here. One area of damage that Parker often did (IMO) was damning excellent and nuanced, but generally less bold, wines with faint praise. Indeed, Parker initially praised these kinds of wines more often earlier in his career, before gravitating far more consistently (for whatever reason) to bolder, sweeter, riper, more alcoholic but (often IMO) less nuanced wines.

It seems unlikely to me that had he continued to take a more balanced approach, that there would have been any noteworthy difference in his influence or alignment with consumers. It’s only in setting up what is an unnecessarily extreme comparison that your proposition here becomes true. Or at least that’s my take.

[John_Glas]

She may just be using the one glass in her hand, the most sensible conclusion. The other may belong to the photographer or someone who moved out of the way. I assume the stems belong to the wine bar, I would use them if the wines are interesting.

-Al

Honestly would never use a glass that thick to review a wine. Almost left the Grand Tasting at the Walla Walla Syrah Festival as they had stemless thick glasses but then I was able to find a proper stem.

You seem like someone fun to be around.

Why because I actually want to taste the wines? These were the top Syrah’s from Walla Walla.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Ok, I’ll bite. What’s with the thick rim on those wine glasses and why does she have two, and of different sizes?

High level professional critics have the capability to use both hands to compare two glasses of wine at the same time. Like juggling and unicycle riding, these Feats of Strength amaze me.

I’ve never been appalled, in person, by a person’s palate more than by Alice Fiering. Brickbat or not, she’s an entertaining writer but I will rot in hell before she critics my wines.

[Al_Osterheld]

She’s not my cuppa, either, but it’s not because of the thickness of rims on stemware she uses. Others love her, and I respect their choices, but also probably not related to the rims on her stemware.

-Al

[Steve_Costigan]

Ok, I’ll bite. What’s with the thick rim on those wine glasses and why does she have two, and of different sizes?

High level professional critics have the capability to use both hands to compare two glasses of wine at the same time. Like juggling and unicycle riding, these Feats of Strength amaze me.

Guys, guys, you’re way off base. The glasses have to be thicker to give the reviewer the time she needs to evaluate natural wines before they eat through the glass.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Ms Feiring isn’t a wine reviewer, she’s a wine writer.

-Al

Often an interesting distinction. The former mostly focused on scoring wines as if producing a buying guide for those that feel they need such guidance, the latter with more freedom to go into depth, be it on a region, a style of wine, history / change etc. Still often offering opinions or suggestions, but also aiming to be either educational or thought provoking.

I don’t appreciate every wine writer, but those I do find interesting are far more appealing to read than a set of TNs from wine reviewers / critics

This is spot on, except that I don’t see AF (or RP) as free of agenda, delving into place, history, etc. AF was using wine tasting/reviewing to build a story that supported her writing. It’s sweet, unless you actually pay the rent and feed your family on what you produce.

That said, it’s easy to skip a critic or writer and she does me no real harm.

[Al_Osterheld]

I think AF has a massive agenda and is pretty dogmatic about it, much more than RP. It’s also not very hard to see her agenda, since she pretty much preaches it. As you say, don’t think she moves the needle on Oregon producers I know.

-Al

[John_Morris]

FYI, Daniel Thomases was the guy Parker hired to review Italian wines for a couple of years in the mid-2000s. He was only there 2003-06. Apparently, he died in 2020.

[Mikael_OB]

@TomHill

This doesn’t give much new insight as to what Parker is up to but it at least confirms that he’s out enjoying a good meal and drinking 82s every now and then.

The article also confirms what someone mentioned in the thread about Barolo/Barbaresco - dim sum in quantities and aged Nebbiolo sounds like it is worth a try.

My Lunch with Robert Parker – TerroirSense Wine Review

[D_Pennet]

Putting the points aside, I always enjoyed reading Parker’s tasting notes, I think he was really good at giving the gist of a wine in a few words. Something his master pupil Galloni is incapable of doing.

Although my taste does not align with Parkers, I think a high majority of drinkers does, from a business perspective he was a great help.

I just do not trust the new critics, Galloni, Neal Martin, William Kelley at al are all too much into the high end of wine like Steven Tanzer. A 20 € Bordeaux with 88-90 points from Parker, you knew what you were getting.

[Barry_P]

Same place I applied for a refund for the truckloads of 1997 barolo and 1998-2002 shiraz I bought based on TWA’s ratings and recommendations.