Recent WA Issues

I have, of course, followed Parker's WineAdvocate from the very start. Fortunately, I've never had to subscribe. Blair subscribed
from the very start and shares his copies w/ me to read. Blair is one of the Parker sheep and buys a lot on his recomendation.
Except he knows enough to steer away from the high-end Napa Cabernets.

Originally, the WA was, I found, a very good read and imparted a lot of useful information to me...background information on the wines,
the winemakers, etc. But, over the yrs, it has devolved into mostly a mere compilation of TN's & I get not much useful information from it.
As JonBonne puts it..."drinking from the fire hose of wine scores".
After a hiatus this year, Blair loaned me his most recent WA's (#'s 210/211/212). This is, of course, post LP-B ownership. I was expecting to
see a further decline in the information it provided as more writers were taken onboard.

#210: The SonomaVlly coverage by Parker was actually quite good. The use of "SonomaVlly" is technically incorrect and it should be SonomaCnty,
but that's a minor quibble. He covers a lot of my favorite wineries (Carlisle/Bedrock/Turley), some of whom are not viewed as particularly "hot" (DryCreekVnyds).
And even covers a few I'd not heard of. But none of his notes indicated these "unknowns" are any I should rush out & buy. And misses a few new up&comers.
And precious little coverage of any wines made from "god-forsaken" grapes.
Even though I'm not much of a Rioja fan, I thought LuisGutierrez's preliminary discussion on the general overview of Rioja was absolutely fascinating, one of the
most informative reads I've had from the WA in ages.
JebDunnuck's coverage of the NorthernRhone was pretty good...given his breathless enthusiasm he shows a lot.

#211: Parker's review of "Value Wines" from VnydBrands & Weygandt/Metzler was quite nicely done. There were even a few that I might be tempted to
actually seek out...though not based on the Parker scores. Some of them are even made from "god-forsaken" grapes, of all things.
Since I've sorta regarded Lisa P-B pretty much of a light-weight when it comes to wine writing, I thought her coverage of McLarenVale was surprisingly good.
And, even though I long-ago abandoned the Burgundy market, I thought NealMartin's write-up was pretty interesting.
But the highlight of #211 was LuisGutierrez's writeup on the Priorat. His preliminary overview of the area is near-brilliant. More importantly, he actually gives some
coverage to the Priorat's rancio wines. This is a genre that has become virtually extinct since the "discovery" of that area. I have, of course, followed the Priorat from the
very start, back when rancios were the norm in that area. DarrellCorti introduced me to the deMuller rancios back in the late '70's. They are (or..can be) fascinating wines.
MarkSquires coverage of Portugal...meh.
Finally, Luis coverage of Catluna and Ten of its Appellations was absolutely splendid and provided a lot of useful information. Including the Tarragona deMuller wines.

#212: Parker's coverage of '04 Calif Cabs...meh. Pretty much the same ole/same ole fixation on the NapaVlly. Not a genre that I find much interesting.
Same for Parker's RedBdx '11 coverage..of no interest to me.
Neal Martin's coverage of 2013 Sauternes was quite informative...since thos are about the only Bdx's I buy anymore.
Again, LuisGutierrez's feature on Argentina was very informative..though I have little interest in those wines.
And Schildknect's coverage of 2012 Austria was informative & useful.

So....I was struck by two things in reading thru the last three WA's. Given there's been a large turnover in writers at WA and nude writers taken on, I was struck by the
consistency in the style of wine writing throughout the issues. Almost seamless as you transition from one writer to the next. And I was quite impressed w/ the
writings of LuisGutierrez. He's a real gem.

Still..."drinking from the firehose of wine scores" is what I feel after putting these three issues down.

OK....so feel free to turn this into a ParkerBash if you wish. I need some entertainment. Speaking of entertainment...where's BillKlapp been of late??

Tom

"So....I was struck by two things in reading thru the last three WA's. Given there's been a large turnover in writers at WA and nude writers taken on,"


Hey Tom, how can you tell that the writers are "nude".

"So....I was struck by two things in reading thru the last three WA's. Given there's been a large turnover in writers at WA and nude writers taken on,"


Hey Tom, how can you tell that the writers are "nude".

Ooooops, Jim. My girlfriend gets back today from 6.5 weeks hiking in Europe....so I suspect my mind was wandering.
But it's too funny to correct. [snort.gif] It conjures up some images that are pretty scarey to contemplate.
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

Tom,

The fact that you are not generally interested in a Bordeaux or Portugese table wine report is not a reflection on the quality of the reporting.

Anyway, I happen to know more than a little about how hard Squires works on his reports. It's not a 30 second casual sip, spit and score. Far from it. No first hand knowledge of Parker's process.

Well, I do know someone who used to pour for him (RP) at his tastings in Maryland, but I don't know the details of the process.

Tom,
The fact that you are not generally interested in a Bordeaux or Portugese table wine report is not a reflection on the quality of the reporting.
Anyway, I happen to know more than a little about how hard Squires works on his reports. It's not a 30 second casual sip, spit and score. Far from it. No first hand knowledge of Parker's process.

He no doubt works hard on his tasting notes. And the statement that I'm not interested in Portugese wines is just dead wrong.
They have a lot of indigenous varieties in Portugal that really attract my interest...it's just that I don't see very many of them around.
I was struck in these last three issues w/ the preliminary sections that preface all the TN's. That's the parts that are of most interest to me,
that I learn the most from, not particularly the TN's. That preliminary section in Mark's section was pretty vapid compared to all the
other ones, I thought.
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

He has done some lengthy reports on line. Only about 65% or so of WA content makes it to print. You can guess what stuff dominates the paper edition.