Moving markets is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy or a vicious circle. Because Bob has demonstrated such an ability in the past, people buy on fear of price escalation, thus causing said price escalation. The cessation of this effect will happen when consumers either loose faith in Parker, Parker’s ability to move markets contemporaneously or (the most likely) his retirement.
If another individual could cause such a rush (most likely by finding wines of relatively high value to their relatively low cost), they could usurp such a throne. With the immediacy of information in today’s age, this is becoming less likely. Still we’re seeing exciting and fantastic regions outside of the traditional canon developing phenomenal wines, so the opportunity is still there and makes Eric’s note about the Rhone all the more prescient as it seems to be such a hotbed of quality to price. Time will only tell.
I tend to disagree. There has been a strong trend to regionally or varietally focused publications. Maybe for Parker/Tanzer/Spectator who try to cover EVERYTHING your statement is true, but frankly if someone focused purely on Bordeaux they could easily cover all of this ground and devote 5x the amount of time Bob does to the region and go far deeper both on current vintages but also more importantly on vintage retrospectives. The WA frankly does a pathetic job of actually circling back and reviewing wines in a systematic way when they are ready to actually drink.
Of course I am contradicting myself when it comes to the ability of WS/Molesworth to command a larger stage.
seems the lowest hanging fruit would be for someone to step up and do a burghound- or view from the cellar-like deep dive into bordeaux and sell that quarterly for $200+ annual. i can’t imagine that bdx fans wouldn’t want that type of laser-focused coverage.
Problem is that an individual with no clout or street cred cannot do this without some sort of “in” and start up money. Maybe I am wrong, but I think that John Q. Winelover cannot get into chateau to barrel taste with the intent of starting a new publication.
Maybe somebody out there has a plan like Jeb does for his Rhone Report, but BDX seems to be more walled off to me.
Ah, you say “called it quits” and I say, “was tarred, feathered and ridden out of Burgundy on a rail”, but 'tis nothing but a semantic quibble. I wonder where we would be today if the Bordelaise had had the guts to do the same thing…
Jon, good point, and I agree with you and hope that you are right about the weather. Hard to tell if the 2009 wines are big and high alcohol due to Parkerization or climate, but at least as to the first-growths, I am guessing that 10-20 years down the road that the answer will be “climate”. (Excluding the 2009 Cos, of course!) 2003 (clearly) and 2005 (maybe) are also in the “climate” camp, IMO.
First, I think some of Parker’s influence on Bordeaux prices is overrated. He heavily praised 2008 Bordeaux and did not more the market at all. It is only in a vintage like 2009 that is hyped by others that his ratings of individual wines move the markets.
While many people on this board and other similar ones do not like the overripe types of wines Parker does (myself included), my sense is that most less fanatical wine drinkers do. Thus, I would expect these wines to continue to be very popular, unfortunately. Remember, most people don’t really age wine.
I expect there to be a replacement for Parker. Likely someone we have never heard of (at least now because I would be surprised if he retires any time soon) but nature abhors a vacuum and people will want information about which Bordeauxs to buy. Certainly, a number of people will try to fill the void but my guess is that one or two prevail (ie have large readerships).
I would be shocked if demand for 1st growths goes down after Parker. If one has lots of money and wants good wine, what is easier than buying a first growth? If anything, demand will go up.
For a time, I would expect prices to be a bit sticky. That is, the wines that Parker rated really high likely will continue in demand (even if “quality” goes down) and newly minted Parkerized wines may have a harder time getting noticed in the marketplace - so the price remains lower for longer. At least until a new Parker is anointed.
I have a hard time seeing why fewer people will buy futures. There will continue to be lots of hype for the hot vintages (the only time people buy lots of futures anyway). People were hyping 2009s long before Parker said one word about them. For example, Jeff Leve was reviewing the 2009s even before they were wine - he was issuing glowing tasting notes about unfermented grape juice. Given the access to information with the internet I really have a hard time believing hype will be reduced.
Interesting that nobody on this thread sees Tanzer emerging as the top dog. Of course, Tanzer recently turned Bordeaux over to Ian d’ Agata, and while I thought his work on the 2009s was every bit as good as Tanzer’s (and much more useful than Parker if one does not care for Parkerized wines and wants a critic to identify wines within and without that category), and his Italian work particularly outstanding, it would take some doing for Tanzer’s periodical to move into first place, even if Steve himself were still covering Bordeaux. I have long considered Tanzer to be more useful than WA in most respects (especially when he had David Schildknecht in the stable), but als, Steve lacks Parker’s gift of self-promotion, and thus, plays to a smaller audience.
I agree with you that getting to know the people at the various estates is interesting and informative, and many will become good friends over the years. I especially enjoyed visiting the smaller estates to get to know the proprietors who make this their passion and work.
Bill… No wine region is walled off. Bordeaux is very open. If a person makes a polite request, almost any chateau will make an appointment for them. If a particular winery is difficult to reach, ask the retailer you buy from for help. They will simply get a request to a negociant, and they will not get turned down 99.9% of the time.
To become a successful, influential critic, it takes numerous attributes. Access is easy. The rest is more difficult.
They need the ability to not only taste, but to be able to use written words to communicate what they are tasting. This becomes far more difficult when you are describing and trying to differentiate between hundreds of wines in a single report. I know this is not easy from personal experience as I post a lot of notes. It’s not difficult to write up short notes from wines served at a dinner. But doing that with hundreds of wines is a daunting task. You can agree or disagree with Parker on his scores. But when you read Parker, you get a good idea of what that wine will taste and feel like.
Next, the new critic needs to find an audience. In today’s world, that is not so easy. With the advent of the Internet, hundreds of people are clamoring to be heard. Without a platform like a known publication, for example, The Wine Spectator, this is going to be very difficult.
Money! Getting people to subscribe is going to be much more difficult with so much free, qualified information available with the click of a keyboard. It’s a difficult task asking people to spend $100 or more per year.
Lastly, they need a proven track record. Tasting from bottle is one thing. Barrel tasting is an entirely different animal. The potential critic will need the ability to correctly prognosticate how a vintage will develop. In Bordeaux, as the wines are sold as futures, barrel tasting is the only game in town. If you are not a good barrel taster, your value to region is greatly diminished. Assuming this new critic has the correct skill set, the person will need a few years to prove they have the ability to correctly predict how infant wines will be when they reach maturity.
Molesworth will need to prove himself to be a qualified barrel taster. I do not think he reviews wines in barrel in the Rhone.
Eric… You are correct. If a taster devoted 100% of their time to only Bordeaux, they could cover the region. I also wish Bob tasted and reported on more older Bordeaux. On the other hand, a lot of people already have those wines in their cellar and they are capable of tasting them and posting their own notes.
Question for anyone that knows… Before Burghound, how many people were seriously covering Burgundy? Who did you guys read, and did you take their advice?
When I first started to read Parker I’d say this was true. After Y2K for me it became quickly less and less true. I gave up on him after the 2005 BDX vintage. What I read and what I tasted were wildly at odds.
The lowest winesearcher price for 2008 Lafite Rothschild is $1,000. Before Parker’s review Premier Cru was offering it for around $200 - even after its status as an easy arbitrage to China for big bucks had been established.
No, I am submitting it as a very powerful example of the price hikes that happened to the 2008s after his reviews came out and what had previously been assumed to be a dud vintage received his seal of approval.
Tanzer has been for me a wonderful source of information regarding Burgundy for 20 years–back when his publication was the “New York Wine Cellar.” He continues to do a great job. To a lesser extent, Coates was helpful with “The Vine,” though he’s really a hierarchist and there were never any surprises.
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