Which Wine Critics Do You Follow?

[Redav]

Which wine critics do you read / listen to? Many, a few? Have you found one with a similar taste in wine as yourself?

I don't follow critics much at all, the only link I have for one is Huon Hooke. I'm not sure why, I just do. I just thought I'd see who's liked here.

[swirler]

None. If I like it I buy it.

[Ozzie W]

I'm a subscriber to The Wine Front. It's run by Campbell Mattinson, Gary Walsh and Mike Bennie.
I used to follow Halliday many years ago but quickly lost interest.

[rooman]

I'm a subscriber to The Wine Front. It's run by Campbell Mattinson, Gary Walsh and Mike Bennie.
I used to follow Halliday many years ago but quickly lost interest.

Mike is great on rieslings, appears to have a love affair with South African wines but hates French wines, Gary is the King of all things Bordeaux and Piedmont and Campbell likes to hunt down wines in the Hunter.

[ticklenow1]

I used to like Jeremy Oliver but he doesn't seem to review as many wines nowadays. Halliday's ratings are beyond a joke these days. But I do use his ratings for my Grenache buys. If he says certain descriptors and marks it down, I buy! Been meaning to get on the Wine Front for a while now but just haven't needed to recently. I, like Swirler, just buy if I like it, no matter what the critics say. But it is hard to taste everything you buy so I actually use a lot of the opinions on here and other forums. There are a few posters around the place whose opinions I regard highly.

The trick is to find a critic/regular poster whose palate matches your's and stick with them.

Cheers
Ian

[swirler]

Does anyone admit to following Halliday?

[Rossco]

Andrew Graham is my favourite as we seem to have the same tastes in wine.

Intrepid Wino (James Scarcebrook) is a great blog and you tube.

For some reason i still buy the JH wine companion every year. Not for the ratings, probably due to wanting to have a historical archive more than anything.

[cuttlefish]

Does anyone admit to following Halliday?

I do. He's still the most comprehensive. The companion contains a lot of information.

[Ian S]

Yes Huon Hooke always impressed, though I haven't read anything by him in years. Jeremy Oliver also impressed for being brave enough to offend, though the website debacle offended many in a different way.

Elsewhere I always enjoy reading (NZ) Geoff Kelly's reviews and equally he is happy to call things as he sees they are. With both him and Oliver, even when I fiercely disagree with them, I find their views good, challenging and honest.

I like the writing style of Nicholas Belfrage on Italy, again I'll happily respect him in disagreement.

Not a critic, but regular forumite elsewhere Tom Hill writes really well and his 'wee bloody pulpit' sometimes exceeds the length of what he set out to write about. He's on WLDG and Wine Berserkers, but possibly elsewhere as well. Well worth reading.

[Ozzie W]

I'm a subscriber to The Wine Front. It's run by Campbell Mattinson, Gary Walsh and Mike Bennie.
I used to follow Halliday many years ago but quickly lost interest.

Mike is great on rieslings, appears to have a love affair with South African wines but hates French wines, Gary is the King of all things Bordeaux and Piedmont and Campbell likes to hunt down wines in the Hunter.

Gary is also the Pinot Master™ .

The Wine Front is different to most other critic sites. Firstly, wines are often reviewed before/at release, so you can actually buy something you're interested in, rather than finding out it's sold out. It's also not just about the critic's review - there's great discussions about the wines from TWF subscribers. The winemakers often partake in these discussions too. They also review quite a few imports, which is handy for those like myself who are exploring Old World wines. Last but not least, the discussions often include where you can purchase hard to get wines from or where to get a discounted price.

In an ideal world, I would taste every wine before I buy it, but that's not practical. For me, TWF acts a filter for the multitude of wines released each year. I can then look more closely at wines I might be interested in purchasing.

[swirler]

In an ideal world, I would taste every wine before I buy it, but that's not practical. For me, TWF acts a filter for the multitude of wines released each year. I can then look more closely at wines I might be interested in purchasing.

A very intelligent way to do things.

[Polymer]

Wheeler

[Cactus]

Halliday - comprehensive. Great to have in car if on a random road trip u think there may be a winery nearby. Scores meaningless. If i get one more wine broker promoting a wine by teeing off with Halliday 95pter i will scream.
Jeremy Oliver - respect how he will just call it out if he doesnt like it, even if a big name. But get the sense can be a bit petulant or something. I dunno. Generaaly most trusted.
Tim White via drinkster blog - honestly how funny. Love the subtle turn of phrase, self deprecation. The wit. Its a joy reading. I dont always agree but jeez a joy.
Andrew Graham via Australian Wine Review - i love how he drills it down to would i buy it? Brings together the quality vs vfm.

[Michael McNally]

Does anyone admit to following Halliday?

Yes. I have been following Halliday since the late 80s (through the Weekend Australian and the Top 100, then later with the Wine Companion books). Now I subscribe to the winecompanion site (I wait to renew until my subscription is offset by a wine offered).

If you read his notes (as opposed to just looking at scores) you get a good idea of the style of the wine. Then you discount the score by about 3-5 points and you have some idea about the wine.

I think following a few different critics brings perspective so follow the Wine Front as well.

Cheers

Michael

[swirler]

Just to be clear, I have no issues with JH, but he's not the coolest critic to follow (understatement.) TPS? Whatever floats your boat.

I won't say anything about scores. We don't need anyone thread about that.


Tall poppy syndrome.

[alexc92]

I mainly read TWF, Andrew Graham, Antonio Galloni (Vinous) and Jancis Robinson. But at the end of the day I wish points were eradicated altogether..if a wine is good the tasting note should convey that

[TiggerK]

It's just someone's opinion at the end of the day. It very rarely translates for me into the tasting reality of that '9x point' bottle in front of me. Maybe give or take 5 points.... I just like the vibe of certain writers, descriptors of structure, ageability, certain buzzwords I tend to avoid (vanilla, porty, extracted etc) and so on. I take the time to look at Andrew Graham, WineFront, The BerserkerMassive and sometimes Geoff Kelly. But really, it's Marbo.

I find the pointy point point marketey hypey hype hype totally and utterly offputting, and almost without fail, a crazy high pointed wine never comes even remotely close to that score from me (usually needs way more aging, so maybe time would tell). If there's one thing I've learned above all else in my wine life, it's that someone's 97 points is the person next to them's 90, and vice-versa.

Respect to the Wheelers though! Knowing someone's experience and style preferences and comparing that to my experience of the same bottle at the same time speaks volumes. Consistency and a full scale worldly comparative rating is vital.

[swirler]

Tigger, I totally agree with most of that. I do sometimes think CamW gets a lot of credit for being stingy with hos scores which I think is a bit silly. It's all relative. Reviewer is consistent. There's no 'right' way to score. It's totally subjective.

Damn, I was trying to not mention points.

[Barney]

Halliday - comprehensive. Great to have in car if on a random road trip u think there may be a winery nearby. Scores meaningless. If i get one more wine broker promoting a wine by teeing off with Halliday 95pter i will scream.

Agree with this, always handy to have lying around notwithstanding the inflated scores, think you may get a bit hoarse though.....I get at least one mailer a week with a Haliday 95 pointer.

No doubt that a good Haliday review = $$$$ Sales...think we are all in the minority here.

The wine front is my other, informative AND entertaining...

[maybs]

Wheeler

Haha yes to this

[Sean]

deleted

[JamieBahrain]

I've drifted toward seasoned drinkers who have a passion for an area. Too often I'm finding critics hollow in experience- I mean how can they rate a wine in youth without having extensive experience of previous vintages at maturity ( certainly in the case of Barolo ).

With the lower $Aussie I've been meaning to subscribe to winefront to reacquaint myself with Australian wines and trends.

[sjw_11]

Speaking of stupidly nonsensical reviews, here is a ripper I just got emailed by Halliday Inc aka the Wine Companion wine flogging business, under the subject: "This is the Mouton Rothschild of Australia ..."

And lo and behold, a reviewer (amazingly James Suckling, who I thought actually had a pretty OK reputation?!) was the source of the quote, although the rest of the email continues to lay on the hyperbole:

'This is the Mouton-Rothschild of Australia. Incredibly complex aromas of black currants, spice, cigar box and berry. Full body, fantastic palate with round and polished tannins. Goes for minutes.'

97 Points, James Suckling

We all know of and cherish the Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay. Mention the phrase 'premium iconic Australian Chardonnay' to anyone, and chances are the first thing that will come out of their mouth is this wine.

So why then do we not give the same level of respect and paraochial dedication to their equally as brilliant Art Series Cabernet?

Speak to any European, Japanese or American wine critic about classic Australian Cabernet, and the Art Series will probably be paramount in their discussion. After all, the Cabernet has featured very heavily in Top 100 Wines of the Year lists recently, from the likes of Decanter Magazine, Wine Spectator and Wine & Spirit Magazine. Do they know something we don't about one of our most famous wineries?

Well - what James Suckling has just recently stated might change all of our minds. Likening the Art Series Cabernet to Bordeaux's 1st Growth Mouton-Rothschild (which sells for $2000 a bottle) will probably capture some local attention. It certainly caught mine, and I had to seek out this latest release from Leeuwin.

And that got me thinking, why did a James Halliday affiliated store push a third party review, and hardly quote the revered Mr Halliday except for a brief excerpt on how wonderful Leewin Estate is as a family owned property? Could it be that Halliday has not scored the wines as highly? The answer was sort of, as the recent scores show:

2011: 94, 2010: 96, 2009: 90, 2008: 95, 2007: 93, 2006: 94. ... First growth-esque? Perhaps not.

Of course, the beauty of the Wine Companion website (Registered TradeMark of Halliday Inc) is it includes a selection of much older reviews that appeared in old editions of the physical book. Looking back at the early nineties, we see a very different picture:

1990: 90, 1991: 81, 1992: 92, 1993: 90, 1994: 86, 1997: 85, 1998: 92, 1999: 88, 2000: 86.

So there was a time a spade was called a spade, as this note from October 1995 about the '91 Art Series makes clear:

Medium to full red-purple; tasted on four separate occasions, twice in show or blind tastings, twice in open tastings, and on every occasion I detected characters in the wine which I find off-putting, yet it has received high praise in many quarters. To me there is a hint of gaminess and astringency which may be derived from the canopy, may be from sulphide or may be from bacterial action - or perhaps none of the above. Whatever, I cannot come to terms with the wine.

I should say, I have never quite understood the Art Series Cabernet or its pretty hefty price tag versus many peers (e.g. even in the '01 vintage which Halliday gave 94pts to and described as "one of the very best ever under this label" the RRP was $54... today it is $83 apparently)...

I have never tried one to justify the cost, let alone to draw comparisons to the best of Bordeaux but hey if fancy FOREIGN reviewers (FOREIGN no less!! from proper wine places!) say it should be $1000 then heck $83 is cheap as chups - load up the truck monsieur, load up the truck!


PS: re-reading their email, this is an absolute gem: "Mention the phrase 'premium iconic Australian Chardonnay' to anyone, and chances are the first thing that will come out of their mouth is this wine." ....... I guess I should have a glass ready then, hey?

[camw]

Sorry to anyone that reads my notes for how far behind on things I am. Just haven't been feeling it for a while now, hope to get the spark back! If anyone likes my notes have a look for salil on Cellartracker as I think we may be twins when it comes to preferences in wine.

Don't really follow any critics too much, I may subscribe to Galloni and Tanzer at some point as I think they are reasonably aligned with my tastes in some regions but I don't buy a lot of bottles so it's hard to get good value out of it.

Winefront is good value but I haven't been in sync with the tasters there for some time. They have good palates and are good guys so I'm happy to see them succeed.

[camw]

James Suckling ... was the source of the quote ...

'This is the Mouton-Rothschild of Australia. Incredibly complex aromas of black currants, spice, cigar box and berry. Full body, fantastic palate with round and polished tannins. Goes for minutes.'

97 Points, James Suckling
...
Well - what James Suckling has just recently stated might change all of our minds. Likening the Art Series Cabernet to Bordeaux's 1st Growth Mouton-Rothschild

I am reasonably sure that note was from Nick Stock (on Suckling's site), typical lazy sales spiel if that is right.

[WAwineguy]

Jeremy Oliver also impressed for being brave enough to offend, though the website debacle offended many in a different way.

What was the website debacle?

[sjw_11]

Jeremy Oliver also impressed for being brave enough to offend, though the website debacle offended many in a different way.

What was the website debacle?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9755&hilit=jeremy+oliver+website#p72881

[JamieBahrain]

Ha! I've been drinking 99 and 2001 art series Cabernet over the last 2 nights. Will finish the second bottle tonight and will post notes on the Aussie mouton

[WAwineguy]

Jeremy Oliver also impressed for being brave enough to offend, though the website debacle offended many in a different way.

What was the website debacle?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9755&hilit=jeremy+oliver+website#p72881

Ah ok, well it seems to be working fine now - 3/5 years later! And has pretty good coverage.

[WAwineguy]

Ha! I've been drinking 99 and 2001 art series Cabernet over the last 2 nights. Will finish the second bottle tonight and will post notes on the Aussie mouton

Had a magnum of 2004 over easter - it was fab!