Jay Miller Out of Australia

[JDSJDS]

Jay Miller spent the last three years reviewing Aussie wines for the Wine Advocate. His current set of reviews will be his last, and supposedly Lisa Perrotti-Brown. a MW based in Singapore, will be taking over from Jay Miller.

The WA has had a huge impact on the Australian wine industry, both positive and negative. I wonder what the impact of this change will be on the Aussie wine industry? Will Perrotti-Brown actually visit Australia and not just rely on importer tastings? Will she champion 'alternative' wine styles and regions? Will she tone down the high scores that Miller (and Parker) were sometimes criticized for? How long will it take her to gain credibility in both the industry and with consumers? It will be interesting to see...

Parker noted this shift in this post: http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=216785.

Also, Neil Martin and Perrotti-Brown will co-author the next New Zealand report. Maybe Perrotti-Brown will take over the NZ regions eventually too?

[ChrisV]

Pleased about this since I think Miller's palate is hopeless. Getting a MW in to do the tastings should improve things I hope.

This sounds promising from Lisa:

New South Wales is first on my radar. Although these wines have an avid local following, they’ve struggled a bit on the export market compared to South Australia. The Hunter Valley is steeped in history and is home to some of Australia’s oldest vines. But there have been a lot of changes in recent years to this zone as well as surrounding areas, calling for more attention to some of these superb wines!

[n4sir]

Hopefully it's a step up. While I'm not familiar with Perrotti-Brown's writings, there's really no excuse for her not to visit these regions given her closer proximity, availability of direct flights, and the existence for many years of strong market for our wines in her own backyard. She's indicated in her reply in the thread she's intending to travel here more frequently and seems well aware of the current problems in the industry, so that's a start.

While the impression I get seems to be that Miller's cutting back commitments due to being overworked (sound familiar?) it's hard not to be a little cynical and think the move is a resignation by WA that Miller's time as the reviewer of Australian wines has been an abysmal failure. For all his talk about diversity and the hidden, elegant wines Americans weren't aware of, he basically ignored them in the major WA reviews and awarded out huge scores to the same old overblown, overripe, alcoholic fruit/oak bombs that don't go with food and don't age. They then wonder why there's such a backlash with their subscribers who have lost faith in the reviewers (in regard to this part of the world) or worse still, complete faith in the wines we make as a country. On a personal level, I feel a change had to be made otherwise WA ran the risk of becoming irrelevant in regard to Australian wines.

My 2c,
Ian

[JDSJDS]

It seems the Aussie reviews will be three separate regional reviews (NSW, Victoria/Tasmania, WA) as opposed to one review, so that's a good start too.

[JDSJDS]

Sorry, I meant four regions, including South Australia, of course.

[Jay60A]

I sincerely hope this works out for Lisa. Australia needs a voice again outside of it's own shores, and it's sorely lacking one, and particularly one seen as both skilled and independent. Personally I would have liked to see Neil Martin, who has very much his own mind, one which Parker quietly respects I think ... but I think Neil is happy doing Bordeaux, DRC tasting etc .

It's an interesting time in Australian wine. Parkerised wines are being derided but I suspect in twenty+ years some of them (the very small % that ages well) will be seen as classics which are no longer being made. A bit like the Lindemans Bin 3100 and 3110 ... a lost artform.

[daz]

Not that I follow her but from bits and pieces I've seen over time, I have the impression that Jancis Robinson reviews quite a few Aussie wines, has visited here but she's a UK writer and perhaps you were referring to the USA via the WA, regardless of its new reviewer being based in Asia.

Cheers

daz

[Mahmoud Ali]

Daz,

You're correct, Jancis Robinson has often written about Australian wines and has featured a few of them in her wines of the week on her website. She has visited the country a number of times and has even judged wines at wine shows. In fact she was in Australia when Len Evans passed away and reported it. She had been at a dinner, together with Len, the night before he died. She later posted a picture of the the group who attended the dinner.

I would trust Jancis Robinson's assessment of any wine, let alone Australian, over anything published by the Wine Advocate or the Wine Spectator.

Cheers..............Mahmoud.

EDIT--PS: Take a look at this recent recommendation of the 2006 Gemstone White Lees Shiraz in her Wines of the Week. It's also a great read: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a20091116.html

[ChrisV]

That White Lees thing looks really interesting. Will have to track down a bottle of that.

[malliemcg]

Interesting change to see, hopefully the previously ignored regions will not hike the prices to the extent those who end up selling well in the US eventually seem too.

[KMP]

Removing Jay Miller from reviewing Aussie wines is a positive step, and even more so is the shift to reviewing regions - although why they have to be spread over multiple issues of The Wine Advocate is beyond me. It may be hard work to review several thousand wines (as TWA say they do for Oz) but stitching them all together for one issue would be just a few mouse clicks.

Miller did visit Australia during his tenure as TWA reviewer of Oz wines. In fact that was the cause of considerable concern because he spent quite a bit of time with folks like Chris Ringland and Dan Philips, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest. Whether Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW will be more evenhanded in her associations with members of the industry remains to be seen. She was born in the USA but currently lives in Singapore and has been involved in the asian wine industry since about 2002 and has been a MW since late 2008.

Another possible positive is that Perrotti-Brown covers Asia for TWA and if she is well respected there then her covering Aussie wines could be a boon for producers wanting to export to that part of the world.

Mike

[GraemeG]

Removing Jay Miller from reviewing Aussie wines is a positive step, and even more so is the shift to reviewing regions - although why they have to be spread over multiple issues of The Wine Advocate is beyond me.

Well, it's a curate's egg. I'd hate to think that prices for decent wines will go through the roof - look what happened to Grange once WS stuck the '90 on the cover and gave it the No 1 gong. If things like Edelstone, Clonakilla, John Riddoch, Quintet - the non-Parker entries on Langtons classification, for instance - start to spiral into the $150+ price range, it'll be a sad day for all of us.
Although, I guess WA's influence is relatively small in the scheme of things. If Lisa P-B can stimulate demand to the point where Vat 1 goes for $100 I'll take my hat off to her (and grind my teeth at the same time!)
cheers,
Graeme

[JohanMitchell]

I can only be thankful that you guys aren't as fuming in hate as guys in other threads with regards to Jay Miller. I've read a great post here: ttp://dat.erobertparker.com/b...828900&postcount=107. But due to demand and possible conflict of interest, I'd rather not have him review any Australian Wine.

[dave vino]

Crosses Howard Park wines off any future purchasing plans.

[TiggerK]

Yes, pity they have to resort to sad attempts at marketing like that. BACKFIRE. (and his other post is equally spammy. Plus the RP link doesn't work by the way, even with the missing h, you're an idiot)

If the wines are any good (and they can be, as much as I hate to say it in this context), they need to let the wines speak for themselves, not pay spammers to put people off their brand, as is the case here. I now won't buy any on principle.

Very Poor Form Indeed.

[Waiters Friend]

Crosses Howard Park wines off any future purchasing plans.

Possibly a shame if you did. I was at a HP tasting on Tuesday night, and there are some seriously good wines there. For me, the HP riesling, chardonnay and Abercrombie cabernet were highlights. See my post 'Howard Park tasting 15/11/11' if you're interested.

[dave vino]

Lots of other good wines around to try. I've not bought any Killakanoon since they bought Seppeltsfield and promptly doubled the price of the 100yo Para. Just like when some corporate bulldozes a historical vineyard, I'll look up their portfolio and won't buy any of their wines. I'm just an average punter and it's just my little way of protesting.

[via collins]

I'd actually be curious to know if "Johann" is paid or not.

What about it "Johann"?

Is there someone who actually believes that tactics as demonstrably ineffective as pretending to like a wine on a wine afficionado's forum will have an effect?

Please don't be frightened to reply, i really am curious.

Cheers,

[Gavin Trott]

I'd actually be curious to know if "Johann" is paid or not.

What about it "Johann"?

Is there someone who actually believes that tactics as demonstrably ineffective as pretending to like a wine on a wine afficionado's forum will have an effect?

Please don't be frightened to reply, i really am curious.

Cheers,

I too am curious, and have asked Johann, by private message, and indirect and direct email to explain.

Heard nothing yet, but??
.

[dave vino]

Working in IT I guess the scenario is as follows, 'hey we can get your search ranking up in Google, give us $5K and we guarantee to have it in the first 10 results on searches for 'good Australian wine'". They send out the bots to seed all the forums/blogs/facebook walls with links to their site. So their Google ranking goes up with all the referrals/links from other sites..yadda, yadda.

If a company undertakes a marketing campaign without understanding the method used, this can only reflect poorly on the owners of the brand.

[TiggerK]

I see someone (it says Johann edited it) has removed the HP links on both posts.... interesting, and no comment? Pity, as a comment/apology may have helped their cause, but now the damage is truly done.

[dave vino]

Sorry for digging this up again, but interestingly if you now search for Australian Wine in Google, guess which is the first Australian Winery to feature on the first page of results....

auswine.JPG

[DaveB]

Methinks Mr Miller is about to implode after his latest episode in Spain. I would think Parker will dump him before he erodes his WA brand beyond repair.

EDIT: Sorry....some context is probably needed..... http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/2011/11/c ... o-jay.html

[Nayan]

Methinks Mr Miller is about to implode after his latest episode in Spain. I would think Parker will dump him before he erodes his WA brand beyond repair.

EDIT: Sorry....some context is probably needed..... http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/2011/11/c ... o-jay.html

Well it looks like he's no longer associated with the WA.

http://www.drvino.com/2011/12/04/jay-mi ... rt-parker/

[DaveB]

Methinks Mr Miller is about to implode after his latest episode in Spain. I would think Parker will dump him before he erodes his WA brand beyond repair.

EDIT: Sorry....some context is probably needed..... http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/2011/11/c ... o-jay.html

Well it looks like he's no longer associated with the WA.

http://www.drvino.com/2011/12/04/jay-mi ... rt-parker/

Hi Nayan....yeah just read that.....storm clouds have been gathering over the last week or so....not surprised at all

[DaveB]

Next up I guess we wait and see what happens to Pancho Campo....a lot of stuff that was going on doesn't exactly fit into the MW code of ethics

[DaveB]

Next up I guess we wait and see what happens to Pancho Campo....a lot of stuff that was going on doesn't exactly fit into the MW code of ethics

http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2011/1 ... dium=email