Parker & Robinson, maybe two sides of...
Re: CiviliWHAT???!!! Allrightallrightallright__ ;^)
Ver mensaje de MCamblorBut that was (part of) my point, you see. I mean this is --like it or not-- the direction things are heading for. Evolution, degeneration...who cares... In less than we might think it may all swing to the other end (aka your ";right"; end if you wish) but meanwhile the guys are flirting with the big and bold. So what?
Of course it was in fun, and of course I was stretching the whole thing beyond what’s reasonable, but I can’t help perversely enjoying the drama you throw into this.
I myself adore Jancis, no problem with the character at all. All I’m saying is that when she punished lack of typicity she was behaving deliberately like a sort of Taliban (OK, it’d take Ned Flanders to qualify this statement but just as there is a terroirism and a ";fruit fundamentalism"; there is a danger in excess in ANY direction). I bet she knew what she was in for, and that her rating was more exemplary than fair, even by her own standards...
Proof that I’m teasing you is that I was wondering whether your dialectical principles had outpowered your disgust for PFB and you had shelled out the $$$ just in order to be able to shout out loud what repugnant s**t Pavie 2003 is... ;^P
Other people’s money...
Ver mensaje de GastronautaDrama... That’s a funny word. In case you didn’t notice, there was quite a bit of tongue-in-cheekness in my three previous posts regarding this subject.
Anyway, if I do try that Pavie, it will be on somebody else’s dime, I assure you. One of the New Year’s resolutions that I am only belatedly taking up is not shelling out my own hard-earned cash for stuff I even remotely suspect could turn out to be crap.
Luckily, American merchants have this odd little penchant for putting ";shelf-talkers"; next to many of the wines they offer. These ";shelf-talkers"; tell you the score and a condensed version of the tasting note offered by this or that critic.
If I see a ";shelf-talker"; bearing the phrases ";The Wine Advocate,"; ";Wine Spectator,"; ";Wine Enthusiast"; or ";Wine & Spirits,"; it’s my cue to stay the hell away from the shelf in question. In fact, the only ";shelf-talkers"; that work as enticements for me are the new ones bearing the imprint ";Burghound.com."; Now, Allen Meadows, that’s a guy who knows what he’s talking about.
That it may be ";the putatively inevitable ";way things are going,"; ";or ";the way the pendulum swings,"; or ";the way the cookie crumbles,"; or some other such cliché is no excuse for remaining quiet in the face of the triumph of vlgarity... I could, like I’ve said before, pull a Des Esseintes and retire to enjoy the remainder of the good things I already own. But it’s better to fight.
M.
Manuel fights for
Ver mensaje de MCamblor";Oh, and should Mrs. Robinson ever need an army (or at least a gang) to help her fight her battles, I will be first in line to volunteer. Yep, I’ve had enough of fruit jam and barbarism.";
Again, I think both sides of this debate may be inflating JR into something larger than she can become. Just recently, Manuel, I recall you cited Calvario as one example of one of those big, overpriced, high cholesterol wines that vexes you immensely. Calvario, as it turns out, has drawn relatively extravagant praise from JR, who says it is ";an impressive wine by any standards. It comes from a single vineyard planted in 1945 on a gravelly hillside just outside Miguel Angel de Gregorio’s base in the village of Briones in Rioja Alta and this first vintage, already stunning when I first tasted it a couple of years ago, is very much the pride and joy of this iconoclastic winemaker. Extremely concentrated, long and modern with no shortage of ripe tannins underneath the welter of fruit, this wine is not exaggerated. It shows a delicate touch.";
Needless to say, I am positively gleeful at the prospect of seeing you, our crusty curmudgeon, take up arms in support of the proposition that Calvario is ";delicate."; THAT surely will be worth the price of admission to verema.com.
Who ya callin' "crusty?"
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiSo sorry, Walt... Never had a crust on me. We Cubans of a certain extraction and persuasion have a thing for meticulous personal hygiene.
And I’m not saying that Mrs. Robinson has not put out her fair share of favorable assessments of wines I consider utterly impotable. But hey, at least that’s only part of the time. She does write wonderfully, which tends to soften my judgment a little (retired Comp Lit PhD type here), without the tacky repetitiveness of certain folks from Maryland. So, I’d still fight alongside her, as long as it’s a battle I believe worthy. Pavie, yes. Calvario? Hell no! I can fight a good fight, but never out of blind idolatry, believe me. And I will always question those who lead the charge (almost as hard as I question myself).
Oh, and I do believe some clarification is in order: My main objection to Mr. de Gregorio’s top wines is not related to their ";fruit"; component. As far as I can tell, my every note on those wines has had harshest comments for the drying, palate-lacerating levels of oak involved. Oh, well, and also the price.
Naturally, I would expect Mrs. Robinson to have swallowed some of the hype surrounding many of those costly Spanish New-wave concoctions I love to hate. If memory serves, her guide when she has toured Spain has been a certain portly gentleman of my acquaintance, a fine journalist who started his own winemaking concern not too long ago and whose writings often involve praise for precisely those wines. Know what I’m sayin’? Give Dante a guide who is passionate about the marketing of Hell and you’ll get a very rosy ";Inferno"; indeed...
Don’t believe da hype--it’s the sequel!
M.
M.
A 12/20 rating is a barely above average wine
Ver mensaje de WaltZalenskiJust two comments, Walt:
";Mrs Robinson gave the wine a score that denotes a technically defective wine";
A 12/20 score is the mathematical equivalent of 80/100 or 6/10 on the Verema scale. An 80/100, according to Parker rating system is ";a barely above average wine";, ";with no noticeable flaws";. In, short we are talking about a ’correct’ wine, not a defective wine.
Walt, I agree with you that ";this is a tempest in a teapot"; if we are just talking about a simple difference in the apreciation of a wine tasted en primeur. But if Parker suggests that Jancis is lying (when she said that was a blind tasting) or that she has a personal agenda against “not only all of Perse’s wines, but virtually all of the garagiste wines of St.Emilion.” I believe that this is a very direct personal attack against another professional colleague. In the last case, the teapot can be transformed in a swimming pool... :-)
An/2
Ver mensaje de MCamblor"; I was pleasantly surprised by a bottle of the bodega’s ";AN/2,"; with its cool, minimalist (some would say slightly ";Soviet-looking";) label.";
This actually occurs with some frequency, but shortly after seeing your message earlier today, my shipment of 2001 AN/2 arrived. You’re right, the label indeed is Soviet-looking. I remember when they had a Miguel Barcelo monster on the label of their special cuvee. Oh well. Das vidanya!
Just for the record, Jancis liked the Valandrauds
Ver mensaje de GastronautaI don’t think is just a problem of style. She didn’t like THAT wine. For the record I copy her three comments about the wines from Thunevin. After reading them just ask yourself if she is really on a battle against garagistes as Parker suggests:
Ch de Valandraud 2003 St Emilion Grand Cru 18.5 Drink: 2009-20
";Very deep crimson. Brule mulberry notes on the nose. Warm and sweet but remarkably gentle on the palate. Lively edge of leafy Cabernet notes - another wine saved by is Cabernet Franc content (60 per cent in this case). Chewy, fine and absolutely no shortage of acidity. Jean-Luc Thunevin says he picked this in October, the latest of all in St-Emilion, with a yield of 28 hl/ha (more than in 2002). This wine is 15 per cent alcohol but you would not know it on the palate. No heat on the finish. A very good Valandraud.";
Ch de Valandraud, kosher cuvée 2003 St Emilion Grand Cru 17.5 Drink: 2009-17
";Extreme depth of colour with even less purple than the wine above. Very very ripe, full nose. Sweet start without quite the tension of the main bottling. Lots of acidity. Warm, ripe and throat-warming - no shortage of unctuosity but a little awkward at this stage. Certainly the best kosher wine I have tasted though. This was made with equal proportions of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.";
Virginie de Valandraud 2003 St Emilion Grand Cru 16 Drink: 2010-16
";This wine, from a specific plot of land, is quite hot on the nose. Round, black sherry palate but rather a green edge. Very chewy, jagged and harsh as though there are some underripe tannins in there.";
I liked AN/2 too...
Ver mensaje de MCamblorI am starting to worry about our coincidence in wine appreciation. I must be getting old.. :-)
I loved that 2001 AN/2 when I tasted (blind) in a Peña La Verema tasting in January. I found it an original wine, balanced and attractive: https://www.verema.com/en/forum/message.asp?message=181