I came across this article the other day and it floored me. Here is a link to SF Gate if you would like to read the full article. This was written by Jancis Robinson who is an English wine critic.
On my last trip to California, I was given a lift by Screaming Eagle's
vivacious vineyard manager Annie Favia. She had already told me with
some pride that she also made her own range of wines, Favia Wines,
presumably advised by her winemaker husband Andy Erickson, who happens
to be the winemaker at Screaming Eagle.
This sounded like a pretty tempting background for a label that was new
to me, so I asked whether there was any chance of tasting them or
reading any reviews of them. Annie looked almost shocked, and explained
that she hadn't sent out samples. "I wouldn't dream of letting someone
taste my wines unless I was there to tell them about them," she
explained, "and anyway we seem to be able to sell everything without
reviews anyway."
I probably looked a bit shocked at that point, too. The idea that I
could taste a wine only with its maker at my elbow fills me with dismay,
not to say incredulity. If I adopted this approach I couldn't possibly
sustain my current tasting average of several hundreds of wines a week.
It would be a physical impossibility to ship myself to the makers or to
invite the makers over my doorstep in London in time for their (five
minute?) rendezvous with me.
...this article represents just one of the many flaws found in the professional wine critic today. I know this is not going to go over well with most of you, but it is the truth and you know it. Before I go further I have to say that I have the utmost respect for those of you who are writing with passion, integrity, and conviction. Stay the course. Remember what made you fall in love with wine. Remember that wine is a vehicle to further our enjoyment of life. Tell people what makes it so special...the land, the people, the vintage, and philosophy...not your ability to taste several hundred wines a week. For those of you who think that it all about you, and your palate, and your power, and your words I hope you will be humbled and made to realise that it is not about you rather it is all about the land and the people that help grapes turn into something beautiful!
I have been and will continue to argue on this blog that this system of evaluation is no way to understand or appreciate wine. I want to offer a different way, a better way. No blind tasting, no scores, no frankenwines, no corporations...I am choosing to follow instead the suggestion of Joe Dressner which is that we just sit down with one great bottle at a time and immerse ourselves in understanding and appreciation. To me the way Jancis suggest we taste is like having sex with several hundred hookers a week. You would not enjoy the sex. It would become mechanical, simply a routine. I do not want to live that way. I want to have sex with my wife for the rest of my life and learn all I can about her. It is so much more satisfying and enjoyable. Let us learn to enjoy wine!
I agree, Jancis seems to have lost the passion. Wine is all about friends and good living, not about tasting hundreds and giving them 'robert parker points'. What I can't stand is critics like Jancis demoting a winemaker just because they don't understand the style of the wine. Annie Favia is traditional, she wants her wine to be told with a story rather than carelessly tasted with several hundred.
Good work Adam! Can't wait for more!
Posted by: MikeySimjack | July 24, 2008 at 02:48 PM
I agree, Jancis seems to have lost the passion. Wine is all about friends and good living, not about tasting hundreds and giving them 'robert parker points'. What I can't stand is critics like Jancis demoting a winemaker just because they don't understand the style of the wine. Annie Favia is traditional, she wants her wine to be told with a story rather than carelessly tasted with several hundred.
Good work Adam! Can't wait for more!
Posted by: MikeySimjack | July 24, 2008 at 02:48 PM