Another year, another attempt to save wine criticism from the forces of darkness. The newest gallant is Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, whose contribution will apparently be unbiased wine criticism without the conflicts of interest with which, she alleges, the industry is rife.
There are many things to ponder in the comments Perotti-Brown made to The Drinks Business, such as if someone will ever start something in America without shouting that everyone else does it badly (I guess we can be thankful for the small mercy that it didn’t take up an entire book this time around). One can also marvel at the gravity-defying properties of the scales in Perotti-Brown’s eyes – it took 13 years at the Adam of wine scoring, the Wine Advocate, including eight as editor-in-chief. There is, moreover, the always entertaining spectacle of someone burning down their boss’s house. A quoted press release refers to “the high ethical standards initially [emphasis added] championed by Robert M. Parker, Jr.”, so we can come to our own conclusions on what Bob did eventually.I guess there is now a bunch of critics at the Wine Advocate insisting we have to wait for Sue Gray’s report.
Every new publication deserves a chance of course, even if it’s a bit difficult to see much new insight in comments such as “an accurately written, meaningful tasting note can (…) be even more valuable to consumers [than scores]”. As for non-scoring content, the promise is for “exciting journeys into the lives of the people from the regions we cover, with in-depth features and visual storytelling”. There are plenty of those around, which are often indistinguishable from advertising copy, so I am particularly intrigued to see what The Wine Independent, as the new outlet is called, will bring to the game.
Given Perotti-Brown’s Napa base and loudly declared aim for honesty, this has the potential for some very exciting content. (“Jason is a tech millionaire who knows diddly-squat about wine, but thinks a winery might finally get NBA players to return his calls. He has something of the sexual predator about him, which would explain why he has that particular New York law firm on a retainer. His wines taste like oak chips soaked in vodka Red Bull, and they have already sold out, mostly to the yachts of his tech bro buddies who were recently told you shouldn’t be drinking beer post-IPO. Serve with Soylent and sociopathy.”) I really hope they hire me as their English wine correspondent.
Facetiousness aside, there are good reasons why a new publication can make those claims with a straight face. There are few things that are attacked as often as the ethics of wine critics. Mind you, not from the fabled consumer, whose good everyone is supposedly looking after, but from their biggest beneficiary, the wine trade itself. The whole enterprise has long struck me as both counter-productive and redundant, if perhaps unavoidable human nature being what it is.
Naturally, I am not…
