The Trusted Palate Blog

What Robert Parker thinks of Sommeliers

2010-09-28T10:51:00.009-04:00

Robert Parker recently visited Bibou, a French bistro in Philly. This is what he had to say about Sommeliers:

"I loved everything about this place...the quality of the food alone merits a must visit," he wrote. "Add the BYO and no corkage....and better yet...no precious sommelier trying to sell us some teeth enamel removing wine with acid levels close to toxic, made by some sheep farmer on the north side of his 4,000-foot foot elevation vineyard picked two months before ripeness, and made from a grape better fed to wild boar than the human species....we all know the type-saving the world from drinking good wine in the name of vinofreakism...”

Here's a link to the full article: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Robert_Parker_toasts_Bibou.html.

It's a wonderful example of how divisive the world of wine can be. We have Parker showing us, albeit in a bit of a joke, his perception of the attitudes of those who oppose his view. If this attitude is his opposite then we can only imagine what he likes and thinks of as quality. Interesting to note the wines that he chose to take to Bibou that night though. I wouldn't describe any of those wines as being huge fruit bombs.
In fact they all have bottle age. One thing we can certainly say about Parker is he has a talent for description.

Quality wines under $20

2010-09-25T11:40:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine has asked me to write something about "good wines under $20". So I will write this piecemeal.
This question is asked of me many times and in many different forms. I can't promise that you'll like a particular wine because we all have different palates. Some people are very sensitive to tannin, for instance, and most red wines taste very bitter to them. Some people have a preference for the "New World" fruit forward styled wines as opposed to "Old World" wines with less fruitiness and more structure (mostly tannin and acid). So without knowing each individuals preferences it's impossible to make sweeping statements about what is good. This is why I'm not a fan of the points system that Parker and Co. use.
What I can write about is quality, in all it's various styles. I will blog about several wines in this price point over the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know what sort of style it is, as well as it's personal characteristics and my assessment of it's quality. I'll let you know where you can buy it and how much it is. If you go out and buy a wine that I've blogged about let me know. Try to describe the wine to me and let me know what you liked and disliked about the wine. This way I'll get an idea of you preferences and can advise you better going forward.

2008 Château de Ségriès, Lirac Rouge, Cuvée Réservée

2010-09-24T12:29:00.001-04:00

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago at Whole Foods. We sell it at Mercato and some guy had a problem with it not being Cotes-du-Rhone Villages anymore. A little knowledge can be dangerous. Anyway, I thought this little wine was a stunner. Absolutely gorgeous. Medium weight, beautiful spice and red fruit from the blend: 50% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Cinsault, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Carignan. Kysela is the importer and it's distributed by Advintage. Of course Parker gave it only 87 points. Not really his style. But if you like wines that are elegant, spicy, sexy and please everyone at the table, this wine will do nicely.

The Natural Debate

2010-09-24T11:54:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to an article written be Steve Heimoff on the subject of natural wines:
http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/09/22/natural-schmatural/comment-page-1/#comment-82563

My response is as follows:

The wine business is like many other trades. The medical industry has it's Witch doctors and doctors who shun any form of natural medicine in favor of every vaccine possible and every prescription written.
In our business we have people who practice their viticulture as a religion. Some truly believe in it and others simply use it to market their wine. This topic of natural, sustainable, organically grown, organically produced, biodynamically produced grapes and wines is intensely divisive. It certainly provides for great and entertaining debate. Unfortunately, the producers who portray this holier-than-thou attitude are seen as the face of natural wine.
The truth is there are more producers of "natural" wine who are simple, modest people. Ted Lemon of Littorai is one example. He does everything he can to limit the use of
organic chemicals in his vineyard but is the first to concede that without these chemicals he would lose the crop. Obviously, we can surmise that there is a correlation between crop health and quality wine.
It would be pleasant if the self-righteous wackos and the people who seem rabid about bashing all of natural viticulture would disappear for a short while.
They cloud the water and perpetuate bad information. Where are the moderates who understand this? Is putting a spin on everything simply the way things are done in our time? I hope not.