100%
Now here is the funny thing, y’all know I love love Chinon, right? I’m also generally an easier grader, granted most of us typically drink good sh*t that we love. That said, I often find his Chinon scores 2-3 points over mine.
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I am a big fan of John’s writing. He is very subjective. Not hard to tell what he likes and what he does not like. You will get very frustrated reading his publication if your palate does not align with his. He rates things things like the Loire wines, Beaujolais, German wines, etc., he likes very highly. He is the only wine writer I know of that will give top Beaujolais scores in the mid-90s. One thing I love about his writing is the attention he gives to California wines still made in a traditional style. I wish he would rate Bordeaux more often so that I would know better how to separate the wheat from the Rolland.
For me, his only downside is that since he started writing his newsletter, he is no longer a wine broker and I cannot buy from him the wonderful stuff I used to get.
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Same thing with his reviews of Cru Beaujolais. There’s a lot of JG94 and A fair number of JG95 wines out there. Not that I’m complaining - I’m usually in agreement that they’re excellent but just 2-3 points lower.
It’s the reason I don’t subscribe.
I don’t subscribe to wine critics/newsletters anymore, but if I did, he’d be at the top of the list.
That is Gilman in a nutshell:
- Extremely wide drinking windows, with his early maturity corresponding to mid/late maturity from many others
- Prefers classically styled, structured wines; concentration, yes, extraction, no; tolerant of earth and perhaps herbaceous flavors
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Yes, it’s worth pointing out that he’s a good writer. Not many wine critics are, and there aren’t many true wine writers left.
I think he’s maybe the only major critic whose drinking windows are realistically long for people who like mature wines.
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Don’t most really good wines have extremely long drinking windows? My guess, for example, is that the drinking window for many really excellent German wines from 2019 is from sometime last year through the next 30-50 years.
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I learned recently that he lives in the same small town that I do. Wonder if he’ll come to an off line?
+1 on this… I also give quite broad drinking windows, but I’m just trying to be realistic.
When I see drinking windows for e.g. 2001 Giacosa that end in 2021, or 2009 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrières that ended in 2018, I scratch my head in perplexity, as those wines are no where near being done.
This isn’t about liking wines that have evolved in an “oxidative” direction, as I have zero tolerance for flaws of that sort in wines of this age. I think the durability and capacity to improve of artisanally made wines from well-farmed vineyards in great locations that are well stored is simply routinely underestimated.
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And some of those wines are so magnificent when we give them that time, sadly that time is more than half of our adult life, lol. He’s dead right on wines like Magdelaine, Montrose and probably a host of others. I still think most quality vintages of Magdelaine from 1995 to present need 30+ years. When you try Magdelaine from the 60s-80s, it makes sense. I’m not convinced about his windows on some Chinons that I buy, but then again, Raffault from the 1980s remains on fire.
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Half your adult life? I still have some bottles I bought in my 20s and 30s!!!
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I have ADHD and zero patience!
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Still have on more bottle of '89 Les Picasses that that’s on queue to drink soon. That wine is 
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One striking thing here is how many of us have met John … and liked him.
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It is amazing what the wine world is like. My story is like that of so many of us. When I was younger, I bought wine from a store where the salesmen included David Schildknecht and Josh Raynolds. Like so many of us, I have met and drunk wine with some of my favorite producers and wine writers. Now, we all get to converse on almost a daily basis with William, among others. We are all the very fortunate.
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If one of your metrics is a sense of humor, no one checks that box better than Gilman. Roadkill is a feature that delights me, though sadly, John posts a version very infrequently.
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Same here.
The only reason I stopped subscribing was as part of my efforts to buy less wine.
I also regret the passing of Roadkill but he got a lot of grief over it.
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I loved roadkill. I miss it.
I enjoyed watching John let rip in the Road Kill, but I think there is a heavy price to pay. People attribute all kinds of weird motives, when quite the opposite is true. When a terroir such as Cos is obliterated as they did with the 2009, he will say so in no uncertain terms.
I was with him when he tasted this wine and saw the absolute look of horror he experienced. If you have ever seen Francis Bacon’s Pope paintings, it was pretty damned close.
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