Antonio’s reviews of Burgundy and California are spot on, or more in line with your tastes than RP’s or DS’s palate’s, as California RR is coming up in August.
Will you/would you re-up your subscription?
For me this is about the most interesting thing that has happened at TWA since I have been around in the wine business, as is Antonio’s enhanced coverage of areas. Granted it will take a bit to get up there with Tanzer and Meadows, but a fresh view is needed, and perhaps he can provide one, he definitely has the passion and palate diversity, I always like his HG notes on Burgs, and he does very well with Champagne and Italy of course.
I never subscribed, but no, this wouldn’t make me subscribe.
I think the issue with Antonio isn’t whether he can taste the wines and write good, useful notes. It’s whether anyone who’s unfamiliar with an area can provide much beyond that. For most of the wines I cellared, how they taste on release is the least of my concerns. Much more important is knowledge of how a given effort relates to that producer’s other efforts in that vineyard over time, whether they’ve altered styles and how a wine will age. The latter is informed by experience - If you’ve tastes wines at a given producer on release for 20 years and tried them as they age, then you have a background that let’s you say not only “2011 reminds me of… X” but also “given that, it should do X as t ages and should improve for N years.”
There’s NOTHING a critic can do if they don’t have a pretty deep background in a region except to dive in and start gaining that experience. However, AG won’t have a depth of experience for a decade or so. I’m also unconvinced that anyone at all can cover all of the regions he’s covering and do it well, esp if he pushes TWA related events, etc too. We’ll see though.
Kris, I agree it is a very interesting development. I also agree with Rick that it will take 5-10 years to really play out. Some of the great things about Antonio is that: (a) he doesn’t fear criticism (of himself) and (b) he doesn’t fear and in fact seems to want to embrace technology. I think both bode well for the future.
Kris, I never stopped subscribing because I want Antonio’s reviews of Italian wines. I also find Parker’s reviews of California useful and I very much enjoy David’s reviews of Germany, Austria, and NYS.
Of course, if you’re not subscribing to the WA how would you know if “Antonio’s reviews of Burgundy and California are spot on, or more in line with your tastes”?
One of the things Antonio is doing is posting trip reports on the BB which are imo far more informative than RP’s.
Rick, if you want real depth, subscribe to John Gilman. He’s the only one I know who really goes deeply into an area or estate when he writes about (e.g. a recent article on Heitz Cellars is 35 pages long!). The WA has always been more about breadth of tastings, not deep history. At the same time, you may underestimate the depth of Antonio’s knowledge and his ability to acquire more rapidly.
Yeah, a friend subscribes to John and I’ve considered it. But I’m not just talking about what’s written, but also depth of experience with a region. Parker has that in the Rhone and Bordeaux. Antonio has it in Italy, esp the Piedmont. But unless he’s been drinking very widely in Burgundy and the other regions, it’s just not something he can get without time. Sure, he can do verticals, etc. but there are things you can only get by the passage of time. Mostly, this is the experience of tasting a vintage in barrel, then on release, then young, midlife and mature. Do that for several producers in a vineyard and you will start to understand producer and vineyard both. It will let you say “Oh, yes, this tastes like {Producer’s] wine from [Vintage] but with a bit more acid and slightly less fruit” or whatever. That, in turn, can inform your evaluation of a wine’s aging potential.
TLDR: I don’t believe in shortcuts no matter how skilled someone is. AG, like anyone else, has to get the experience and there’s only so much he can do to cram that in over a short time. Some of it will just have to come with time.
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This is a tough one for me because my subscription is running out in the beginning of August and I’ve decided after 20 years or so not to renew. I agree that Antonio is the best thing happening there but for me it’s to late. I already have enough burg. voices that have proven their palates and don’t really need another. Like above I agree that it takes to long to really learn everything about Burgundy that you need to know. This is really not a negative on Antonio but after considering the atmosphere there it’s just not worth my time. Sad really because I’ve been subscribing for 20 years or so.
I think we’ve already seen via Antonio’s comments on twitter and elsewhere that he’s not going off the reservation on any of Parker’s California darlings.
Anyone know the inside scoop as to how this bizarrely executed transfer of responsibilities from Parker to Antonio occurred? Are the people advising him morons? Or is RP losing it and the people around him helpless? I hope that Antonio is at least as good (if not better) a reviewer of Cali than Parker. I just find it odd they could not have devised a more seamless transition.
I stopped my longstanding WA subscription during the Rovani regime; I don’t see a reason to resume now when there’s Meadows, Gilman, Kolm, and this board. In addition, I’m still irritated at the way they locked and closed eBob.
alan
Well, Curtis, one guy stops doing it and the other guy starts doing it. Except the guy that used to do it will still do it as far as enhanced coverage of prior vintages, which is something many have long requested. Why is that bizarre or moronic? What would your advice be?
The reality is that AG is doomed with most people on this board before he types his first review for CA or Burgundy. I truly, honestly believe he cannot and will not wine over those who are already ‘opposed’ to him or RMP for their own various reasons. So what if he gives all the SQN or Saxum wines 100+ points? Folks will say he ‘had to’ because of how Parker has scored the wines in the past. What if he gives these wines hight 80’s or low 90’s instead? Well then, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, right?
I truly, honestly wish AG the best in his endeavors. Though I’ve never met him in person, it seems that he is a very nice, honest, earnest and diligent person, based on first hand accounts from many on this board and others. I hope that some of those on this board and others who would normally simply ‘dismiss’ his ratings or views for various reasons at least give him the benefit of the doubt . . .
Give Antonio 5+ years. It will work out. He is easily the best personnel decision that Parker has ever made, and that doesn’t begin to do justice to him.
One question. Are his reviews of Burgundy going to be more timely? Frankly, it doesn’t matter how good his notes are if all the best wines are sold out when the notes are published. That was my single biggest gripe with the WA’s coverage of Burgundy.
That being said, even if timely, his notes would have to be very good indeed to overcome the needless Ill-will Squires and Parker engendered right before I let my subscription expire.
Does anyone really think that Tony’s hiring is to draw Serkers’ back to ebob? The only reason that Antonio is there is for the newbie or next generation. He doesn’t have the baggage that Bob has, it’s a clean slate for a publication that is really struggling to do way too many things all at the same time and become an ‘everything to every person’ kind of a site. ‘My wines’, anyone?
Antonio is a younger, tech savy, sharp dressing guy, who relates to the new money customer wave, finally Bob has figured out it’s about changing his (WA) image. Bob realizes that as long as the wall is up, most of the ‘old timers’ won’t come back and all of the new folk knew no different and see it as an exclusive club.
Alan…I stopped my longstanding WA subscription after Parker’s Review on 1993 red Burgundy.
I do not mind and in fact …kind of happy …for what they did to their wine-Board ( otherwise…we would not be here with this Board ). It proved that they could not think Outside the Box.
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