Robert Parker: Best Red Wine Value of the Year

WINE TALK
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FWIW I reckon Joe showed wonderful grace when presented with differing perspectives. Forget the thicker skin, I’ll take his attitude of listening to differing opinions without taking offence every day of the week. Bravo Joe [cheers.gif]

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The bigger question - do I want to look around for this Steakhouse Cabernet? It sounds like a wine I might like.

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+1. Ian is correct… There is much to learn and appreciate from this board, but it is not from the periodic comments that get away from the wine theme and are more personal in nature. IMO, they detract from the value here.

1 Like
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You don’t really think it was Parker himself that directed this, do you?

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Marshall, I’ve been searching for someone to state the basis before I did…cheers to you and your family in 2017!

Joe, you say you’ve been active on wine boards for the past 20 years…where were you for the great wine schism 0f 2007-09?

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Jeff, I was on Chowhound from 1999 or so for many, many years. I posted heavily and made a number of enduring friendships. Also posted on eGullet and locally, Don Rockwell. I first posted on here about VA wine which I am quite passionate about. While I’ve been serious about wine since the early '80’s (I’m old…)my principal obsession outside of my business was food. I’ve been extremely fortunate to travel heavily since the early '80’s which have allowed me to experience a great deal. For my business I entertained a lot both here and overseas and enjoyed reporting and sharing many of the experiences I was fortunate to have. These are several examples of the kind of stuff I wrote: Chowhound - The Site for Food Nerds: Cooking Tips, Culinary How-To's, & More. also: Chowhound - The Site for Food Nerds: Cooking Tips, Culinary How-To's, & More. also: Chowhound - The Site for Food Nerds: Cooking Tips, Culinary How-To's, & More. There were probably 20,000 or so more. I was obsessed.

Marshall, thank you for the explanation.

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I just saw this thread and laughed… Back in Feb of 2016, my brother called me and told me he had this great Cabernet Sauvignon at a restaurant for a decent restaurant price and asked me if I had heard of it. It was the 2013 Stack House Cabernet, which judging from the notes I have seen on here tastes fairly similar to the 2014. I look around and pick up a bottle, and liked it, then split a case with him from a retailer in NJ. At the time it was $21.95/bottle (and an excellent QPR at that price). We just polished off the last bottle on Christmas, and looked to reload. This time the cheapest price that we could find in NJ was for the 2014 and it was $32/bottle an almost 50% increase. Until I saw this thread I could not figure out why… Now I know… Not sure if I will purchase at the higher price (perhaps some of it just on principle). But very timely thread indeed…

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Three bottles just arrived. Tempted to try tonight, but I do not think it would go well with a tempeh bok choy dish. Maybe I’ll just put them into cellar and try to forget their there.

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I’ve had three bottles since this thread started and sincerely recommend that after you open the bottle, give it an hour or so. Really opens up with a bit of time.

Also, agree that much of this depends on price especially since Parker noted this as a “value.” I think for $30-35 or so a bottle-at most-this is delicious and well worth it. If I could taste the same bottle for $25 or less, wow! At $40 it would be what else I could have bought, especially at discount.

But I love this wine and at $30 it is a real pleasure. Especially after an hour or so…

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Central wine merchants in NJ has it for $30. Ask for Choch. I thought the wine was oaky and under-fruited. Sorry, not so much a fan: Mondavi napa more to my liking, and at a lesser price.

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Thanks Joe- will do soon.

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Based on this thread we decided to bring in a number of cases… We retail it for $36.99 but I’m happy to do $30 per btl for Berserkers if any interest.

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Ron, you’re joking, right? No question he was directing (and sometimes dissing, eg me) people on the website. He just kept it more-or-less under cover by letting Squires be the front man.

disclaimer: this is all water under the bridge, from a long time ago

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Almost 5000 views related to the topic of Parker and his pick for something of value–the numbers don’t lie based on that kind of View count. Like him or not, the valence related to his influence still pulls people in.

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Peter, NO! I’m not kidding and you are truly uninformed about the man. Over the years I have had several dinners and a few lunchs and seminars with the man and I think I know him better then you think you do.

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Ron, this is nothing new. I’ve never met him in person, but I’ve seen enough reports, including yours, to convince me that he’s fine, even fun, in social situations, and I’d no doubt enjoy meeting him that way myself. The way he ran eBob (and his business, to some extent) is just completely different. No question–it was mostly hidden on the website, but I have some emails directly from him that illustrate what was really going on–Squires was the hatchet man, but kept under tight control by RMP. Not that Parker is some kind of devil, nobody is either all good or all bad.

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I corresponded with Parker about Squires’ heavy-handed moderation a year or so before all the banning happened. Based on his response, it was pretty clear to me that he and Squires were in cahoots with the approach to board moderation.

You’ve never ran into someone who was fun in a social setting, but who was an asshole at work?

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You know, most of you regulars are becoming cranky old pains in the ass. Maybe the guy just wants a simple answer to a simple question and thought perhaps asking a bunch of people who know a lot about wine a simple question. I have no trouble trashing comments by The Professor or Alf or AFWE Jay because they have been stupid enough to stick around here and deserve everything we can dish out, BUT let the new guy ease his way in without impugning his motives. You will have more than enough time to do that if he turns out to be another Boldizar (whatever happened to him) and you can prove it.

PS - the wine is available just down the block from my office. That’s down the block in California terms. In New York City, it’s way upstate. My office is on Third Avenue and 51st and it’s all the way upstate on Third Avenue and 90th Street.

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Opened one Sat night. Agreed.

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[soap.gif] [soap.gif] [soap.gif]

So many responses to be made. I fully understand that Mr. Squires was “responsible” for the heavy handed moderation of that Board. However, there is no way on earth that he would do what he did without clearance from Mr. Parker. In addition, I am fully aware that RMP could have been fabulous in person and I wish I had met him. As a matter of fact, I often defended him earlier on this Board. He was a great influence on me when I first got truly into wine over 30 years ago. All that makes the current situation even sadder. Unfortunately, it appears (appeared) that Mr. Parker had a relatively thin skin and was not particularly thrilled if someone dared to disagree with his “opinion.” pileon All in all, I was a big fan of RMP in the past, but to me, he is no longer relevant. Nothing personal as it is all about fermented grape juice and the world has much larger problems nowadays.

Happy New Year to all Berserkers! I hope 2017 is a happy and peaceful year.

Cheers!
Marshall [berserker.gif]