Just did a tasting with Wayne Dutschke yesterday and the conversation got around to Parker and how he had recently been unimpressed with the Dutschke wines. Needless to say Wayne is not happy with the comments that Parker made but what Wayne pointed out was that Parker seems confused about the wines. The following quote is from Parker's comments on the Dutschke wines.
"Offerings that did not make the grade because of a lack of texture and monolithic, unexpressive personalities include the 2004 Shiraz Brick Road, 2003 WillowBend Proprietary Red, and the 2003 Shiraz St. Jakobi."
Dutschke Wines does not make a Shiraz Brick Road! So one must ask the questions. What wines was Parker tasting? Were they even Dutschke wines?
Having tasted the 2003 St Jakobi and Oscar Semmler yesterday and having a glass of each here with me now as I write I can say that, while they are not of the quality of the 2002s, they are certainly not wines that should be ignored. Wine Spectator gave them 91 and 92 respectively, Tyson Stelzer gave them 92 and 94, and Mattinson gave them both 89. FWIW I'm at about 89 and about 92, respectively. More importantly these wines, especially the Oscar Semmler are not generic Barossa Shiraz.
Wayne Dutschke can make generic shiraz - I tasted it from one of his American oak barrels yesterday. But I also tasted shiraz from the same block, picked a week later, in Frech oak that was sublime - or as Halliday would now have us use - a wine that had "line", in spades.
Mike
Does Robert Parker know what he is tasting?
The funny thing is that here in Japan, just about all the Japanese wine websites quote Parker Points. I guess enough wine drinkers here treat it as gospel, I guess.
I have been trolling some websites looking for some Southern Rhone GSM blends, and all the websites just keep on quoting Parker Points.
I have been trolling some websites looking for some Southern Rhone GSM blends, and all the websites just keep on quoting Parker Points.
The Other Parker Problem
The other problem is that Parker tastes unblind. If I may quote from a book review of the new Parker bio that I wrote (full copy is up on TORB's web site)"
"What's in the book is top notch but I think McCoy omits some critical issues. Again and again she shows Parker tasting wines unblind, often in the presence of the winemaker, the owner and perhaps the sales director. McCoy accompanied Parker on a California trip and documents unblind tasting after unblind tasting under such circumstances. The validity of such unblind tastings is not discussed by McCoy. On Prodigy when challenged on this point, Parker reasoned that he had trained himself not to be effected by such factors. He stated he could judge a wine blind as well as unblind. He claimed that had trained himself to filter out any biasing factors.
I think that such a claim is unsupported by any empirical data and is highly questionable. I've been a professional wine judge for over 20 years and have yet to meet anyone else who makes such a bold claim. It would have been interesting had McCoy explored this topic.
Similarly, Parker has a higher tolerance than many for odd or off odours such as Brettanomyces. I once asked him to name a single California wine he had had that he rejected because it had too much Brett. He finally admitted he could not name one. His penchant and/or tolerance for these smells would have made an interesting discussion."
"What's in the book is top notch but I think McCoy omits some critical issues. Again and again she shows Parker tasting wines unblind, often in the presence of the winemaker, the owner and perhaps the sales director. McCoy accompanied Parker on a California trip and documents unblind tasting after unblind tasting under such circumstances. The validity of such unblind tastings is not discussed by McCoy. On Prodigy when challenged on this point, Parker reasoned that he had trained himself not to be effected by such factors. He stated he could judge a wine blind as well as unblind. He claimed that had trained himself to filter out any biasing factors.
I think that such a claim is unsupported by any empirical data and is highly questionable. I've been a professional wine judge for over 20 years and have yet to meet anyone else who makes such a bold claim. It would have been interesting had McCoy explored this topic.
Similarly, Parker has a higher tolerance than many for odd or off odours such as Brettanomyces. I once asked him to name a single California wine he had had that he rejected because it had too much Brett. He finally admitted he could not name one. His penchant and/or tolerance for these smells would have made an interesting discussion."
In a way, you could forgive these sort of mistakes more if he always blind-tasted (more potential for mistakes).
Maybe it was a typo by an assistant? Either way, I hope he does what Jeremy Oliver would do & re-taste & re-appraise, publishing the revised score (if indeed he felt he may have mixed the wines up).
Ian
Maybe it was a typo by an assistant? Either way, I hope he does what Jeremy Oliver would do & re-taste & re-appraise, publishing the revised score (if indeed he felt he may have mixed the wines up).
Ian
