From Sigi Hiss
, at 31. March 2011 07:22
25 May – Look out for the very detailed Blatch report on vintage 2010 in Bordeaux to be published on Purple pages on Monday and Tuesday next week. Also, a detailed report on the 2001s 10 years on. Guy Woodward, editor of Decanter, writes: ‘I think it’s a really important, interesting topic, and one I’d love to explore. But I do think it needs a uniform approach from the press, and that may be difficult to achieve – certainly this year. And, as can be seen from Thomas Matthews’ reaction, some publishers will always want to pursue their own agenda.
‘To be honest, though, it would be difficult for us, as a magazine, to change our plans this year, since magazine schedules are all set. We’ll most likely publish online mid-April. But I’d love to raise it as a topic with the main critics, and look at it for next year. There will always be some who look to profit by publishing early, but if enough high profile names agreed to hold back, we could make a stand.
‘My main gripe, to be honest, is not that the wines are rated too early, but that they’re tasted too early – before final blends are finalised etc, leaving room for manipulation further down the road.
‘There’s lots of issues at work here, and it’s definitely a topic worth exploring – we’d certainly be keen to explore ways of combating the obvious exploitation of the press by those setting prices and selling the wines.’
Even later that day - Robert Parker is sympathetic but argues it’s too late to change the status quo and that critics acting co-operatively would smack of ‘collusion’ – though admits it may be his lawyer’s training kicking in. ‘I prefer to remain independent of both the wine producers and the wine journalists….thanks for sending…’, he signs off.
Read the complete article on Jancis Robinsons purple pages
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