Stephen Tanzer becomes Critic Emeritus at Vinous...

From the Vinous site:


Dear Friends –

I am delighted to announce that Stephen Tanzer is now Critic Emeritus at Vinous. Steve will transition day-to-day responsibilities for his key regions to our team of critics while continuing to write occasional articles.

I would like to thank Steve for his service over these last seven years. He has been an invaluable colleague and mentor to me and our entire team. Steve took a big chance when he joined us in 2014. Vinous was only a year old, while International Wine Cellar was one of the most established and respected wine journals in the world. Our initial agreement called for us to work together for three years; in the blink of an eye it turned into seven.

Steve launched his publication, then known as The New York Wine Cellar, in 1985. With a career as a wine critic that spans over thirty-five years, it is hard to think of many people who have contributed as much to the education and appreciation of fine wine in the U.S. and beyond as Steve has.

I have always admired the open-mindedness of Steve’s judgment. His insightful tasting notes examined how great wines can walk the tightrope between power and elegance. Steve’s contribution to wine writing is amplified by the guidance he provided to many other top critics over the years. Josh Raynolds, David Schildknecht, Ian D’Agata and Joel Payne, M.W. all benefitted from years of Steve’s leadership at IWC. Finally, I would be remiss not to mention Steve’s enviable work ethic. Tasting in excess of ten thousand wines in a year is no walk in the park – Steve did it continuously for over three decades.

I will forever be grateful for the trust Steve placed in us. We wish Steve all the best in this next stage of life.


Well, darn. I’m happy for him, obviously, but that’s too bad. I’ve really enjoyed his coverage of Washington and appreciate his general tightness with scores. I’m curious who will cover Washington now.

I would imagine that Josh would take over Washington coverage, but I don’t actually know. They are bringing on a new critic/writer at some point, but I’d be surprised if they would give the newbie Washington, unless it’s someone who has already been covering the region.

Sorry to see him go. There are very few absolutes for me in interpreting the critics, but one generalization I firmly stood by is that if Tanzer gave a red Burgundy, a 92 or better, then I would like it a great deal, reliably. The only place where he might have been overly generous was in Chablis, imho, but otherwise was spot on.

I was a subscriber to IWC for many years before Steve joined Vinous. My subscription to Vinous was essentially me following Steve. He is a wine critic with great integrity who, IMHO, never artificially inflated his scores. I wish him well in his retirement.

Colin

I started long ago w Tanzer’s New York Wine Cellar that morphed into IWC. Great palate and writing. Congrats to him.

Tanzer was the first critic I found whose tastes (and scores) aligned reliably with mine. Always loved his reviews.

Couldn’t agree more. In my view, he was probably the most reliable critic.

Think I’ll start a handful of Help Me Understand A Critic Emeritus threads.

A handful is too few, a bushel is too many.

-Al

That was quick: Vinous brought in a replacement reviewer for Washington.

What’s the right collective noun? A raiment? A bolt of threads? Or just a patch?

An intemperate clew?

-Al

Looks like Vinous has hired Owen Bargreen as their new reviewer, and he will do Washington State.

Good name for a cocktail critic. What are his credentials as a wine critic other than being hired by Galloni?

Why not a psychologist? God knows there are already too many investment bankers and lawyers.

His palate aligned with me more than any other reviewer.

Perhaps check out his wine site. Owen has been reviewing WA wines for years, along with some CA and OR.

Friends,

What COLIN wrote goes for me too. Me subscribing to VINOUS was just simply following TANZER. Especially for his contributions on BURGUNDY. After a couple of years and in spite of having a truly great Burgundy writer (Neal Martin) on the staff I see that VINOUS has rapidly become a second Wine Advocate. It is loaded with notes on so many regions that do not interest me at alll. Burgundy?? Hardly a handful of articles where at fitst there were contributions from GALLONI,Stephen himself and at first regular contributions on the region by Martin. This seems to be no longer the case so I have to turn to WINEHOG or Sarah Marsh…
SINCERELY JOHAN

If you’ll permit me to say so, there is a difference between a publication actually not publishing as many notes, and you personally not being able to find them on a website with a database that is searchable by both article and wine name… Neal publishes thousands of notes on Burgundy every year, as many or maybe even more as Allen Meadows or me, and it is not so hard to find them on the Vinous site if you take a few minutes to figure our how to use it. Reviewing other regions doesn’t necessarily come at the expense of covering Burgundy.

Dear William,

I pay lots of money to get hold of the subscription like VINOUS or BURGHOUND or Wine Advocate. I had all three. I subscribed because I wanted to find notes on what interests me (BURGUNDY that is). You yourself published a vertical on DUROCHE’s Latricières recently. It is such articles I want to see on a more regular basis (apart from the annual review on the recent vintage) in an expensive magazine. I also expect to find everything I look for in the issue as it is thrown on line. As Neal Martin did when he wrote excellent verticals on LA ROMANEE and ROUMIER’s MUSIGNY. That was last year. This year I am still waiting for anything similar . It is obvious to me that VINOUS by writing on basically every wine that can be found (an exaggeration of course) tries to attract more readers. Clive Coates also published a “general” issue with lots of regions covered but heavy emphasis was on Burgundy. I highly respect jouurnalists llike you and Neal but VINOUS and WA have clearly other priorities

SINCERELY JOHAN