KPB
Posts: 4655
Joined: 11/25/2012 From: Ithaca, New York Status: offline
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I actually liked Parker very much, until his reviews of the 1998 and 2003 Rhône vintages, when for me, he derailed and became very erratic. I felt that he totally missed obvious flaws in many wines: vegetal flavors and aromas, iodine, stewed or burnt fruit. Prior to then, yes, he was good. I can see how it might occur. I’m a person with a limited capacity for how many wines I can taste in a single tasting, or even in a week, and an inability to judge wines if I’ve drunk too much. So, putting myself in their shoes, it is easy to imagine that these guys are both examples of people with sound palates but who became overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the undertaking. These are people who end up drinking continuously, only spitting some of the wine out, and maybe the alcohol impairs their judgement, eventually... I do get it: who would spit at a Harlan tasting, or DRC, or Conterno? But if you rush from tasting to tasting, then back to a hotel suite with ninety bottles lined up... followed by three star dinners every day...
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Ken Birman The Professor of Brettology
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