The response from the new boss at TWA, provided without editorial comment from me:
“We are investigating the facts behind these allegations. I will make clear however that Liwen Hao was hired specifically to review Asian wines and sake, because we feel there is a small but growing international interest in these beverages. He did not just taste 78 sakes, he tasted a few hundred, and they did not just come from one company. He shortlisted 78 of the sakes that came in at 90 points or above for his first report, because these were the ones he believed would be of international interest. We made no secret of the fact that we would be publishing a sake report and Liwen was in Japan tasting with brewers for a couple of weeks in April, which must have created a good deal of local interest. So I’m not surprised that an opportunistic company was set up to take advantage in increased international interest in sake as a result of the report. I’m also not surprised that the newly established company decided to offer the 78 sakes we reviewed. What we need to establish is if that company had access to any of the sake notes or scores prior to publication, which is a situation we take the utmost measures to avoid. Even the suggestion that this could have happened is a matter we take very seriously.”
Agreed Yaacov. Blake Gray is far from a high quality journalist and for years has had an unhealthy obsession about anything related to Robert Parker. It was no secret that Sakes were going to be reviewed. There was plenty of time for someone to set up a company/website for selling sakes with everything in place except for the actual product names and prices. Wine Advocate comes out, someone quickly fills in the products and prices, and boom, an hour later you’re selling the 78 sakes reviewed in the Wine Advocate.
Hmm. Good point. Gathering the inventory ahead of time would be one thing, but simply hanging out a shingle offering the 78 sakes, without actually possessing them, is the sort of thing hundreds of people do every day on eBay. Does anyone know what John Fox has been up to lately?
Getting even uglier. Now it’s not just an alleged relationship between a TWA functionary in Japan and the sake seller, but MW Perrotti Brown is now alleged to have worked for a company run by the guy who appears to run or be involved in the sake seller.
Going back and forth to Japan, I do enjoy sake and like to taste and test new ones, traditional ones, and others. I love the regional and sake making variations. I enjoy their matching to the local ingredients, and the balance. Small producers, small consumption. Been doing it throughout my Japanese studies, with fellows and friends, and regularly in Japan.
My 2c advise, fwiw- do not try assessing sake the way one assesses wine. It just not meant to happen. That’s my take (and I know that for many it will vary). I, for example, do not try matching wine to traditional Japanese meal, nor would I try matching sake to a Western meal. That’s just me (again, I know it would vary). The idea that the wine critique market tries expanding into a traditional sake manufacturing evaluation, and furthermore, that it may influence the market production, makes me feel terrible. Sake, imho, is very regional, very traditional, with high (to the city level) variability on its own roots, rules and traditions. I just hope that this experience may actually remove the attempts of ‘rating’ specialists to influence the market, and let the product speak for itself. If you want to have good sake, leave the ratings. Go through the towns. Talk to the locals. Visit the stores that do not aim at tourists. Well, just my vent. No need to worry about it.
I gotta say THAT bugs me. Robert Parker has never - NEVER - stayed with me. I seriously doubt he stayed with Justin or Lou either, but of courser there is no way for me to know that for certain. Robert Parker is one of most honorable, straight-up men I personally know and as such I don’t like these type of accusations that smell of impropriety. Bill Tex I have always enjoyed your posts in past (I think), but here you owe Mr. Parker - an frankly me too - an apology. And probably Justin and Lou too.
It reminds me of the saying “all is infected that the infected spy, as everything is yellow to the jaundiced eye”.