Big Changes at the Wine Advocate - The Antonio Galloni Thread

[Peter_Kleban]

@M.Kaplan

Dear eRobertParker.com Subscriber:

…

Mark Squires - Bulletin Board supervision and occasional articles on Israel, Portugal, and Greece

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Just wanted to point up the euphemism.

[Taylor_Senatore]

Good for Antonio, but I can’t figure on why we would go down this consolidation road again. He is stretched way too thin, it’s too bad they couldn’t break coverage up more. You got to figure that some parts of Italy are going to get less coverage or perhaps it will be California, who knows but IMHO they should be thinking of focusing on more writers with less regions.

[Steve_Eisenhauer]

Kind of head-scratching. As others have pointed out, Galloni would seem to be stretched very thin in the new configuration - that’s a very heavy load.

[TomHill]

@WvanGorp

Way more than this. Antonio has also taken over coverage of California wine as well. Antonio = TWA now.

Guess Parker can kiss his election to the Vintner’s HoF goodby!!!

Tom

[Ian_Dorin]

@Brady Daniels

Wow, just got the email. I guess Parker meant it when he named Galloni his successor a few months ago.

So Galloni now has Italy, California, Burgundy, and Champagne. I know Parker used to do all this and more, but I think this is too much for one man to cover in sufficient depth. Also, I am sad for the future Italian wine coverage. Galloni does have a good palate though, and I wish him luck.

Hopefully he can stay more current than Schildknecht with regards to Burgundy. I don’t know why they didn’t pass this on to Neal Martin though.

I think Antonio is the right guy for Burgundy for the publication. Schildknecht couldn’t seem to get his reviews out in a timely fashion, and I’m not sure if I speak for everyone, but Neal Martin’s notes are borderline worthless for me. I rarely agree with him on Burgundy, and think he’s guy a very specific palate for it. Bordeaux on the other hand…well, let’s just say IF Parker ever gives that up, I will go back to buying Bordeaux when Neal gets that job

[Mike_During]

I would have liked to see Neal do Burgundy, very entertaining and insightful. Best piece of wine writing this year is his notes on 2009 Chambolle-Musigny, in particular his visit to de Vogue.

[John_J_Vachon]

Kris:

The outrage was directed to Parker not David.

[Alan_C_h_a_n]

Should cult cab flippers start calculating their losses? For which lists?

[Eric_LeVine]

@TomHill

@WvanGorp

Way more than this. Antonio has also taken over coverage of California wine as well. Antonio = TWA now.

Guess Parker can kiss his election to the Vintner’s HoF goodby!!!

Tom

OK, I have to admit it, that got a really good laugh. Thank goodness I was not imbibing at the time, or I would be sending you a bill for a new keyboard.

[rich_g_r_a_h_a_m]

This likely means Galloni will be required to start grade inflating. That has to be part of the deal. Suckling and others are carving out their niche appealing to retailers rather than consumers with the uber-high scores. The WA will not put up with being a Burghound consumer friendly reviewer versus a shill for retailers/wineries…

[Berry_Crawford]

Bad news for the Beaujolais consumer? More coverage could mean higher prices.

[K_R_Baker]

i’ve been waiting for the day that parker no longer covered cali wines. not that it often wasn’t helpful info, but rather to see the mass confusion on what the public should drink and better yet compete for. interesting times.

[Eric_LeVine]

@rich g r a h a m

This likely means Galloni will be required to start grade inflating.

Have you ever met Antonio?

[WvanGorp]

Just from curiosity, I wonder what this means in terms of who is actually now in charge of The Wine Advocate and who owns it. Some on the street have proposed that Antonio might be buying TWA at some point. I wonder if there has been either a change in ownership or change in stake of ownership?

Just curiosity, as I say.

[Roy_Piper]

Tanzer just moved up in the world.

[Jeff_Cassetta]

Eventually, Bordeaux and the Rhone will be handed over to Neal and RMP will only do “What about Now’s” and the Hedonist Gazette…living the good life.

[Bill_Boykin]

@rich g r a h a m

This likely means Galloni will be required to start grade inflating. That has to be part of the deal. Suckling and others are carving out their niche appealing to retailers rather than consumers with the uber-high scores. The WA will not put up with being a Burghound consumer friendly reviewer versus a shill for retailers/wineries…

OK,if this is a joke,maybe it’s a tee hee.
If you’re serious,it’s just stupid or ill informed at best.

[GregT]

Splits up Burgundy, separates it from Beaujolais, but adds the entire state of California to the guy who’s already covering Italy. Wouldn’t it seem more logical to have the same guy cover all of Burgundy and separate Alto Adige from Sicily? Or move Dr. Jay out of Galicia and into Napa? Strange turn of events.

It’s not a knock to Antonio at all, but Parker made some of the CA wineries. It’s not clear Antonio will have the same clout, regardless of his abilities. This may even be a boost for Suckling in terms of having some CA credibility.

[Mike_During]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Burgundy gets less coverage. Go look at “In the Cellar” there is nothing there, then look at “Wine Journal” a post pretty much every day and great writing and reviews. Sure Neal does not have the experience of BH or Tanzer, but probably more than Galloni with Burgundy. He has strong views on the style of Burgs he likes, which is refreshing and understandable and I am generally in agreement with him…

Galloni is American and possibly Parker felt that was important, other than that, I can’t see why he would want to stretch Galloni the way he has and leave Neal, who probably writes more words than the rest put together, with nothing substantial to do - South Africa???. If Parker has so little respect for Neal’s palate he should let him go, or Neal should simply walk off the job (he has a family to consider) and the wine world would be much better for it.

[Mike_During]

@WvanGorp

Just from curiosity, I wonder what this means in terms of who is actually now in charge of The Wine Advocate and who owns it. Some on the street have proposed that Antonio might be buying TWA at some point. I wonder if there has been either a change in ownership or change in stake of ownership?

Just curiosity, as I say.

That would explain a lot…