Help Me Understand A Wine Critic: John Gilman (View From The Cellar)

The goal of this thread is to better understand a critic’s palate and how to interpret their wine tasting notes. These are related, but not the same, questions.

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Abbreviated bio from Viking Range (- Viking Range, LLC)
John Gilman is the author of the bi-monthly wine newsletter View From the Cellar, dedicated to the discussion and analysis of maturing wines and the history of the world’s greatest wine estates. He worked as a wine merchant, sommelier (Picholine, Gotham Bar & Grill), importer, rare wine broker, and consultant prior to commencing to write full-time on the world of wine.

More info from: [u]https://westchestermagazine.com/life-style/a-croton-on-hudson-man-might-be-one-of-the-countrys-most-important-oenophiles/[/u]
One of Gilman’s favorite activities as a rare-wine broker was writing a blog for clients about the wines they discovered and tried. “I would get emails from clients saying, ‘This is really, really good wine writing. If it were a newsletter, I’d buy it,’” he says. Those words never left him, and, at the age of 45, when he was ready for a change, he decided to take the plunge.

Reviews Burgundy and also many other regions

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Close to zero information found on the service on the website (the FAQ consists of one point that the PDF reviews come at 7MB). Cannot even find what regions he reviews, beyond burgundy. Had to do some sleuthing!

Some prior discussion of Gilman from 2017 found here:

CellarTracker integration teases some of the coverage:
https://www.cellartracker.com/proissues.asp?ProPublication=View+From+the+Cellar
e.g., Burgundy, Spanish, Germany, Sparking, Rhone, Beaujolaise, Alsace, Loire

2020 Article on serving wine:

“Whenever I read “popped and poured” for pinot noirs, whether young or old, as part of an amateur’s tasting note, I simply cringe.”

“has 2,200 subscribers who pay $120 a year to receive the PDF in their inbox, but is estimated to reach 10,000 readers”

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John is easy to reach and will be happy, I think, to send you a sample issue.

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John’s info and knowledge are super. Great guy also.

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Great guy, very knowledgeable across many regions, though with a focus on the Old World. Has a lot of experience with (and publishes note on) very mature wines, which is almost unique these days. He leans toward leaner wines than most American critics, and classic, long-lived wines. And he doesn’t mince words when he loathes a wine.

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I really like and generally agree with his reviews on German wines.

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He sure doesn’t! I like that he’s not trying to figure out what some imaginary person might like and write for them. The reviews are unapologetically his own opinions on the wines.

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I learned of John from his blog notes when he was a rare wine broker (or working for one - out of Switzerland I think) and realized we shared an appreciation of 1988 red burgundies and truchot.

Wonder if I can find the old blog notes of his I saved?

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Did you gather that you can create an account on CellarTracker and enable a one-time 1-week trial with access to ALL of John’s reviews in a fully searchable database. As well as a full listing of every newsletter and article.

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Before I met John in real life, this how I knew him.

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I love John. He has a wonderful view of Burgundy. He values balance and doesn’t like extraction on any level. He values structure and also has a love for more traditional Burgundies made with some “tension”. At times this leans a little towards the linear but I really like it. I love the guy. A great person with a unique point of view. I have let my subscription lapse but I will rectify that immediately. He is one of the best German critics out there.

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Or multiples :smiley:

I don’t follow many of the regions he reviews, but I enjoy the writing. Particularly Germany and neo-classical CA and Oregon wines.

Still can’t figure out his wide drinking windows.

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+1
Really respect and follow his reviews on German wines (maybe my main follow for that region)

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His drinking windows reflect the fact that wines are far more resilient than human palates. There’s also the fact that one person’s “over the hill” is another’s “too young.”

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I agree with others – I appreciate his reviews of German Riesling.

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A good critic. I like that he pays real attention to more traditional houses from California.

My knock would be that he tries too hard sometimes to make a point by making some scores more extreme in both directions at times. But if you pay attention to you ignore that chaff easily.

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For my palate, John is the best. I don’t always love the New World wines he scores highly — but I always at least like them — but for French wine he can basically do no wrong. To wit, I recently bought a mixed case of $20-$40 Pouilly Fuisse from the 2018 vintage sight unseen/based completely on his 91-93 pt ratings, and I loved them all.

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I have subscribed to John’s newsletter since I was a student (I discovered it when Chris Camarda of Andrew Will emailed me a copy back in the day). I’ve definitely profited, and plenty of things in my cellar e.g. a lot of old Vatan are discoveries thanks to John. I love how open he is to depart from “conventional opinion” with regards to vintages and producers, even when I don’t agree. Conventional wisdom is not infrequently an echo chamber, and we all benefit when someone disrupts that.

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Now that is pretty cool!

I would subscribe if he brought back Roadkill

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