NYT article on "Pursuit of Balance." Parker as Lear?

[Robin Garr]

The rise of a “Pursuit of Balance” movement in Napa gets long, fascinating coverage in a long story by Bruce Schoenfeld that will appear Sunday in The New York Times magazine, is already online. You can click this link to read it in full, and I highly recommend that you do so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/magaz ... rrer=&_r=0

There’s a tone of Parker-bashing in it, but to my mind it’s not snarky but carries more the tone of an obituary being written in advance for a fading King Lear, who still raves and rants around the murky moors but doesn’t get much attention any more.

The gist of it is incorporated in these three paragraphs:

“If ripe wines are considered good, many California producers reasoned, those made from grapes brought to the brink of desiccation, to the peak of ripeness (or even a bit beyond), should taste even better. That logical leap has created a new American vernacular for wine, a dense, opaque fruitiness well suited to a nation of Pepsi drinkers. More sweet fruit, more of the glycerol that makes wine feel thicker in the mouth, more alcohol. And by extension, more pleasure.

“Pleasure is a matter of opinion, of course. But for three decades, the tastes of mainstream American wine drinkers have been shaped by the personal preferences of one man, Robert M. Parker Jr. A 2013 inductee of the California Vintners Hall of Fame — as a reviewer — Parker has been anointed by The Atlantic Monthly as ‘the most influential critic in the world,’ all genres included. As it happens, he has made a career out of championing exactly the style of wine that Parr and his colleagues disdain. In my conversations with them, no phrase elicited more derision than ‘Parker wines.’ It was shorthand, fair or not, for wines they deem generically obvious and overblown.

“Until a few years ago, if you wanted to drink a wine with a European sense of proportion, you bought a European wine. In 2011, in reaction to an American marketplace that they perceived to be dismissive of California wines made in anything but the superripe style, [Sommelier and wine maker Rajat] Parr and Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards in Sonoma County began soliciting members for a loose confederation of pinot-noir producers called In Pursuit of Balance.”

[David M. Bueker]

If Parker is Lear, who are Goneril, Regan and Cordelia?

The answers to a question on "500 Questions" on television.

[Robin Garr]

If Parker is Lear, who are Goneril, Regan and Cordelia?

Ummm ... Karen McNeil, Natalie McLean, and Andrea Immer Robinson?

[David M. Bueker]

Survey says...XXX...The answer is: Lisa Perrotti Brown, Lettie Teague and Elin McCoy

Movements like Pursuit of Balance have a long way to go before well-heeled consumer preference is turned away from Parkerised monsters. Proselytising sommeliers could be a big help. As the article points out, European wine growing areas are also producing them and they garner high scores (but not usually on a 100 point scale) from many European critics. Spain has been particularly badly infected but right-bank Bordeaux is also full of such wines .

Actually, the problem is less Parker than the fact that people seemingly have to be told what to like as opposed to trusting their own taste. I admit it took many (too many) years before I learned that lesson. But these days, the fact that my (and my better half's) personal taste is quite different than many others does not bother us. Others must have taste similar to ours though because we can easily find wines that we really like. And if what we like is different from the critics or reviewers...so be it.

Actually, the problem is less Parker than the fact that people seemingly have to be told what to like as opposed to trusting their own taste.

Exactly.

I have to say, however, after 30 years in the wine busines, I have little hope in getting consumers to that point within my lifetime!

[David M. Bueker]

I find the whole "people need to be told" argument specious at best. We have all asked someone in a wine shop to recommend a wine. Does that make all of us worthy of contempt? The readership of The Wine Advocate or even Wine Spectator is tiny compared to the universe of wine drinkers. Let's face it, most folks just want a glass of Chardonnay with their salad then a glass of Cabernet with their meatloaf.

The sturm und drang surrounding Parker, IPOB, Parr, Galloni, Bonné, etc. Is totally manufactured.

No one said or implied anyone was "worthy of contempt" but you.

[David M. Bueker]

You didn't use the words, but your tone was quite clear for people who might follow Parker's ratings.

Obviously you are more skilled at mind reading than other humans... no reason to engage in discussion with you at all seeing you can read minds.

[David M. Bueker]

Come on Glenn. "People have to be told what to like" has been the code for "Parker sheep" since about 1995. It's been an obvious insult since about 1999. It's not reading minds. It's reading words.

I am sorry I don't know your "codes." But I do find it a remarkable convenience that I can have my posts "interpreted" by such an expert in what I don't say and what I mean..

[David M. Bueker]

Well sorry if you feel insulted.

Frankly I am sick of the Parker posts anyway, regardless of why and where they get posted. People claim his influence is on the wane, but still seem to need to proclaim his evil for all to hear. He's just laughing all the way to the bank.

I for one have to say that assuming Robert Parkers influence is fading I won't miss him. My wife and I would had missed out in countless wonderful wine experiences if we followed his lead. That's not to say that all of his top choices were awful, quite the contrary but if ones wine palate is unlike Parker or any other given "wine expert" you will miss out on untold wonderful wines since you will spend your life trying to mimic Parkers taste in wine and I'm sorry but that does not work for everyone.

It's past 5:00 PM EDT. Recognized as "cocktail time" by my late mother and her friend. Time to pour a glass of wine and chill.

[David M. Bueker]

Of course it doesn't. It doesn't work for me either, and I still have a few St. Emilion wines stuck in the cellar to prove it.

On another site there are folks calling Rajat Parr "just another Parker" for his IPOB. I think that is much too harsh, but it's not like all the IPOB wines are fantastic either. In fact I posted a note yesterday on one of Parr's Domaine de la Côte Pinots that was very disappointing.

Exploration is likely the most important part of finding the wines we love. There are many potential guides for the journey. Critics are just one type of guide. It's fine to ignore Parker or Galloni or Gilman. I happen to pay close attention to David Schildknecht, but I know him pretty well, and have tasted with him many times, so I know his palate and mine are well aligned. There are a few folks in wine shops that I trust as well (and a few I know to ignore). Then there are books, community web sites, podcasts etc. Lots of resources are out there. I sorely doubt any of us can claim we never, ever had help.

[Robin Garr]

All I'm going to say is that the NY Times Mag article from the original post is well worth reading, in print tomorrow if you haven't already read it online. It's pretty supportive of Parr, but it also quotes Parr saying a lot of things that I've felt since the '80s, which goes back a way before there was an online wine space. Well, except for CompuServe and Prodigy. What a different world THAT was!

I would also note, hoping not to inspire further argumentation, that I know an awful lot of people in wine retail who aren't involved in online forums and know not of the Parker-bashing vs Human Shields tradition, who feel bewildered and a little irritated by customers who come in grasping TNs torn out of magazines and demanding specific wines with no apparent interest in further exploration.

[David M. Bueker]

Perhaps so, though many wine shops have made a good bit of money off of "92 Points!" regardless of where the points came from.

[Robin Garr]

Perhaps so, though many wine shops have made a good bit of money off of "92 Points!" regardless of where the points came from.

That's no lie! It's sort of like a symbiotic relationship in which the hosts benefit from the parasite but complain about it.

[David M. Bueker]

The closing quote from Parr in the article is pretty good: "We don't make these in any style. They are what they are."

Regardless of where a wine is grown (warm site, cool site, in between), isn't that about right.

Survey says...XXX...The answer is: Lisa Perrotti Brown, Lettie Teague and Elin McCoy

Isn't there any room in here for the Parker's Cassandra, the talented, outspoken and firmly balanced voice offering hysterical counterpoint to the other side, Alice Feiring? She would be heartbroken to be left out of the show.

And who plays the important role of the Fool?

[David M. Bueker]

The Fool is clearly Dr. "Big Jay" Miller.