Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I think his nose is worth 5 bucks.




This one is for all you Robert Parker followers. Or perhaps, I should call you bootlickers, stooges, lackeys, zealots, apostles, servants, ad nauseum (all synonyms of Follower in case it went over your head).
Parker and his million dollar nose have ruined a lot of things when it comes to wine. Yes, I said ruined.
It is so easy for people to fall right in with the masses that believe his palate is THE palate. It almost becomes "lemming" like... I wouldn't be surprised if you all drank his most recent "96" pointer, right off the cliff.
The man has a HUGE voice in the wine world. I understand, that inevitably, people are going to take his word as gold. But, why not let someone else, with a completely DIFFERENT palate share the spotlight with you? He can't possibly think that HIS taste is the ONLY taste. Can he?

Perhaps he could use his word to explain that wine is totally idiosyncratic. It's not about what Parker thinks, smells, tastes. It's about what YOU think, smell, and taste. Aren't you the one buying the bottle? Aren't you the one making the Turkey Tetrazzini w/ Thanksgiving leftovers? Don't you want to enjoy the Riesling that goes with it? Why not support a smaller vineyard, that specializes in Riesling? A vineyard that cares about their wine, and what it tastes like. Just because it's on the pages of FandW doesn't make it true.

Perhaps, it isn't Mr. Parker that pisses me off. It's the people that have the inability to think for themselves that allow him to keep doing what he's doing. I mean, honestly... if The Wine Advocate didn't sell, if his every sniff, sip, and word weren't absorbed at every turn, then he'd have no reason to impart his sticky opinion on us.

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