In article > ,
santiago > wrote:

> Mark Lipton > wrote in :
> >
> > You may well be right: David's coverage in TWA has apparently
> > descreased since his early days, leading one to question how much he
> > wishes to remain there.
>
> Perhaps we refer to a different David. Mr. Schildknecht started a couple
> of years ago and it took him close to one year to publish his first
> report in the TWA.
> >
> > Dr. Miller's critiques have certainly raised more than a few eyebrows.
> > Who are your favorite critics of Spanish wines, Santiago?
>
> I don't trust any single critic when it comes to Spanish wines. And I
> learnt it the hard way. For Spanish critics, the market for wine
> publications is so small that most of them (if not all) incur in big
> conflicts of interest.
>
> The leading wine critic publish his reviews in one magazine and an
> annual guide. The magazine accepts advertising and wineries can pay for
> the inclusion of their wine labels in the annual guide. At the same time
> he owns a company specialised in Strategic Brand Image and Public
> Relationships aimed at wineries. Last time I heard about them, the also
> worked as brokers for export markets, introducing foreign customers to
> some wineries.
>
> There is another annual guide which quite some reputation that owns the
> oldest wine club in our country. A wine club that is marketed under
> different brands for different colectives. So the fact is that they
> actually sell the same wines they rate. They are also involved in the
> wine selection for hotels, airlines, train companies.
>
> The good thing about these national critics is that they know the wines,
> the history, the background of every wine region. And this is important
> because it is important to have a reference point for a wine from
> D.O.Méntrida, which should be different from a the standard for which to
> judge a wine from D.O. Bierzo.
>
> This is something that I feel it is absent in the critic of Jay Miller.
> He judges the wines against his palate, not checking them against a
> valid reference point. Sort of judging a Chambolle-Musigny with the
> stilistic standard of a Saint-Emilion.
>
> Other international wine critics such as John Gilman (which I have read)
> or gerry Dawes are biased towards a traditional stile, which is nothing
> wrong, but is missing most of what is going on in Spain. Ok, López de
> Heredia can be great, but it is always the same wine (vinification over
> terroir, IMHO).
>
> So, as you can see, I do not really trust any spanish critic. I am lucky
> enough that I can taste a lot of wine thanks to the consulting I do for
> an importer (which takes me to taste non-Spanish wine mostly) so in fact
> I only purchase what I love after tasting the wine (I recognize this is
> not available to most consumers). And this reminds me that I have to
> locate a few bottles of La Rioja Alta 904 1997 because I tasted it last
> week and it was a frigging great wine made from a winery that I detest
> in the worst vintage of the last 15 years. So what do I know.
>
>
> >
> > Mark Lipton
> > (6 days and counting until Barcelona)
>
> Sorry to say I will not be able to make it to BCN. I hope you enjoy your
> time and am specially green with envy about your lunch in Gerona.
>
> s

Well, I don't listen to any one critic in trying to find wines. All wine
evaluators use their own palate in tasting. That is the only way they
can evaluate. The should have a knowledge of the standards for the grape
and terroir but look at what Parker has done by pressing his own
standards on the wine world such that we can view many wines as
Parkerized. I read Stephen Tanzer's reports and don't always agree with
his or his consultants evaluations. WS has some odd ideas about value
and style that I really don't agree with. Video blogs on wine are the
opinions of the taster. That just seems to be the way of the wine world.