“IT’S TIME FOR WINE TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF ITS DESTINY”: THE AMERICAN JOURNALIST MONTY PREISER ENCOURAGES THE WORLD OF WINE TO GO BEYOND “GURU” ROBERT PARKER

Robert Parker, the most “feared” critic in the wine world has “stepped down” and change has begun, especially for those who always maintained that scores create more confusion than order and that a vote is not sufficient to “narrate” a wine. The American journalist Monty Preiser raised the issue in an article that Ilaria Tachis brought to our attention. “It is time - in essence - that the world of wine takes back its own destiny, without fear or calculation, because, as the 20th century philosopher Santayana wrote, those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.

“In January of 2010 we wrote about the lamentable fact that vintners and winemakers the world over changed their styles and lost their individuality based solely on the whims and tastes of an “elect few”, the “ultra critics” – feared by almost the entire wine industry that succumbed to their palates. One of the glaring examples of this iconic worship,” writes Preiser, “surrounded Mr. Parker, who, astonishingly, awarded wine scores only after knowing what he tasted. No blind tastings for him. While there was nothing at all wrong in his choosing to operate in that manner, for the world to then make him its most influential critic could almost be equated to mass hysteria. In actuality, Mr. Parker was empowered by those who feared his judgments – without that fear his non-blind tasting technique would have most probably relegated him to the status of many other critics”.