I have to say, Manuel, that I am all but completely agnostic about this issue

I have to say, Manuel, that I am all but completely agnostic about this issue. I wasn’t at this Bordeaux en primeurs tasting, nor am I likely be at any other in my lifetime. Plus, there is no question that this is a tempest in a teapot. Who really cares that much? But I wonder whether you are setting up a bit of a straw man. I don’t think there is any quarrel with a reviewer not liking Pavie’s style. The issue, as I understand it, is that Mrs Robinson gave the wine a score that denotes a technically defective wine, which everyone else without exception to my knowledge disputes - even those who agree with Jancis on the style issue. I generally find Tanzer, for example, to be quite accurate and without a major agenda, and you saw his comments above. Decanter hardly takes orders from Parker. Mike Steinberger, who occasionally writes about wine for FT, Jancis’s paper, was tasting along with her and had this to say:

";My take? The wine was a clear step up from the others in the portfolio, but it was a wine of extremes; the sweetness, ripeness, alcohol, extraction, and oak were all ratcheted up to the highest degree. It had too much of everything except what I want in a top Bordeaux: subtlety, elegance, a little discreet charm. It tries too hard to be liked. However, it is unquestionably a well-made wine, the product of meticulous work in the vineyard and the cellar, and plenty of people think Gerard Perse is the best thing to happen to Bordeaux since the Liberation. It would be a tragedy if every St. Emilion wine were made in the manner of Pavie, but that isn’t the case, so let a thousand bottles bloom.";

If something like a classic Penfolds Grange somehow came out of St. Emilion, should it be scored as a technically defective wine?

One of the amusing things about this quarrel is that Jancis Robinson now has been painted as a champion of the British Old Guard. I do not read her reviews religiously, but I catch them when I can, and she is anything but Old Guard. She has distinguished herself by championing many New World (and garagiste) wines and generally has a very eclectic tastes. Not long ago, we were remarking here about her enthusiasm for Anima Negra - the Callet based wine from Mallorca, which has been a staple in my cellar for years but, I dare say, would not be your cup of tea.