It's Time For Wine Critics To Stop Defending Themselves........

[Sean_S_y_d_n_e_y]

Do professional critics need professional stans to defend their reputations?

[John_Morris]

When Parker launched the Wine Advocate in 1978, he was influenced by Ralph Nader and saw his publication as an independent advocate for consumers, which it was during his tenure, regardless of what you think of his preferences.

The economics of the business have changed a lot, though, so it’s hard to keep that distance from the industry. Too many critics out there today, and lots more information online. When Parker had 48,000 subscribers paying $50 a pop for a newsletter (=$2.5 million), he could pay an assistant and another critic or two and still do very well. Today WA and Vinous have to cover many more wines, with larger staffs. The business model now has to involve events or some other spinoff revenue sources, usually involving producers in some way, or synergies (i.e., Michelin and its ownership of the WA). So more potential for conflicts.

(Hard to believe it’s been nine years since he sold out to the Singapore people!)

[A_d_a_m_Mintz]

And don’t forget all of the writers and ‘bloggers’ who continue to get ‘free junkets’ to travel around the US and world to visit wine producing countries in return for ‘write ups’ of these excursions . . .

Curious to know how many Winery owners and Winemakers have been solicited by these Instagram wine influencers for free tastings, posts, etc. Is there a threshold of Instagram followers that must be met for Wineries to give free tastings for this?

[John_Glas]

I even heard there is a thread about the bad ones

somewhere

Do you have a link?

[John_Morris]

And don’t forget all of the writers and ‘bloggers’ who continue to get ‘free junkets’ to travel around the US and world to visit wine producing countries in return for ‘write ups’ of these excursions . . .

Curious to know how many Winery owners and Winemakers have been solicited by these Instagram wine influencers for free tastings, posts, etc. Is there a threshold of Instagram followers that must be met for Wineries to give free tastings for this?

Great question!

[Ofer_Refaeli]

I even heard there is a thread about the bad ones

somewhere

Do you have a link?

+1

[J_Henson]

The book to read that helps understand what is going on with wine criticism specifically, and our world generally, is The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri. The thesis of the book is how traditional authority has lost its grip on its power and influence because it no longer has a monopoly on knowledge, and therefore what is considered truth, in the digital age. And in fact their loss of monopoly has revealed in many cases how wrong they have been about many things. Gurri also points out how these authorities, in a desperate attempt to hold onto their power and influence, often have reacted in a authoritarian manner that only confirms the suspicions of the public that they are not entitled to the deference they once possessed.

[John_Glas]

We have two rules in our golf group, don’t be a dick and always visit the nineteenth hole. At times I wonder if we’d let some Berserkers play in our group.

Is that visit before, during and after the round?

[larry_schaffer]

It’s funny that this is brought up - that was one of, though not the main, downfall of ERP - people started taking nasty potshots at RMP - very nasty.

No problem disagreeing with critics - just don’t be a dick or get ‘personal’ about it.

Cheers

He got nasty first. Hyper-active censorship of any post that dissented on any of his ratings or drinking windows, and quite a few legitimate wine topics were out-of-bounds. You couldn’t even post something critical of his arch enemy Alice Fiering, presumably because any attention, even negative, drew eyes to what she was saying. He banned users for mild comments they made on other forums. People got upset at the censorship and the insults, and took it as a challenge.

I’d love some corroboration on that, my friend. I clearly remember folks getting downright nasty towards RMP, prompting him to stay away from his own board. We all know that Squires was a control freak and yep, he did certainly ban folks but I’d love to see proof of who threw the first punch in reality . . .

Cheers

[larry_schaffer]

And don’t forget all of the writers and ‘bloggers’ who continue to get ‘free junkets’ to travel around the US and world to visit wine producing countries in return for ‘write ups’ of these excursions . . .

Curious to know how many Winery owners and Winemakers have been solicited by these Instagram wine influencers for free tastings, posts, etc. Is there a threshold of Instagram followers that must be met for Wineries to give free tastings for this?

Great question!

It is a great question - and I guess you may have your answer by looking at specific winery IG pages and/or FB pages and how many posts are ‘reposts’ . . .

[Wes_Barton]

It’s funny that this is brought up - that was one of, though not the main, downfall of ERP - people started taking nasty potshots at RMP - very nasty.

No problem disagreeing with critics - just don’t be a dick or get ‘personal’ about it.

Cheers

He got nasty first. Hyper-active censorship of any post that dissented on any of his ratings or drinking windows, and quite a few legitimate wine topics were out-of-bounds. You couldn’t even post something critical of his arch enemy Alice Fiering, presumably because any attention, even negative, drew eyes to what she was saying. He banned users for mild comments they made on other forums. People got upset at the censorship and the insults, and took it as a challenge.

I’d love some corroboration on that, my friend. I clearly remember folks getting downright nasty towards RMP, prompting him to stay away from his own board. We all know that Squires was a control freak and yep, he did certainly ban folks but I’d love to see proof of who threw the first punch in reality . . .

Cheers

A public example was Dave Tong getting banned for a throw away sentence, using his British sarcasm, in a post on the Wine Spectator Forum. It was assumed that was big bad Squires. Then over a year later Parker bragged about it to someone who passed it on. This was still years before Parker went into his frenzy meltdown thing that killed his forum and led to the creation of alternatives. Plenty more people came forward with similar stories showing different facets of what was going on. I’m sure some are posted here, if you want to go digging. It all points to the same thing. Note Squires wasn’t like that before the Parker partnership, nor is he now. He never challenged all the vitriol aimed at him as the source of the draconian censorship, but he was following orders, playing his part. Jeff’s post above (#47) nails it. Parker was desperately trying to hold onto his image as the ultimate authority on wine, years before his public tantrums made it clear to the world.

[John_Morris]

It’s funny that this is brought up - that was one of, though not the main, downfall of ERP - people started taking nasty potshots at RMP - very nasty.

No problem disagreeing with critics - just don’t be a dick or get ‘personal’ about it.

Cheers

He got nasty first. Hyper-active censorship of any post that dissented on any of his ratings or drinking windows, and quite a few legitimate wine topics were out-of-bounds. You couldn’t even post something critical of his arch enemy Alice Fiering, presumably because any attention, even negative, drew eyes to what she was saying. He banned users for mild comments they made on other forums. People got upset at the censorship and the insults, and took it as a challenge.

I’d love some corroboration on that, my friend. I clearly remember folks getting downright nasty towards RMP, prompting him to stay away from his own board. We all know that Squires was a control freak and yep, he did certainly ban folks but I’d love to see proof of who threw the first punch in reality . . .

Cheers

There were lots of us who were very critical of Parker, but Squires was like a bad grade school teacher, slapping people with his ruler at every chance, generally with little provocation. That, together with blind Parker devotees who were incensed that people could disagree with Parker, soured the forum.

I think the best proof that it wasn’t the Parker critics who spoiled the discourse is that the same debates take place here in a passionate but civil form.