Parker---Targeted and misunderstood

I also find that way too much bandwidth is taken up answering MS's silly polemics. Occasionally he makes sense, but this is not a good enough reason to keep feeding him. We all seem to fall into the trap, even those of us who have stated that we should not keep feeding him.

So Max, while I fully understand your imperative, the way to achieve it is for us to ignore all silly uranium threads (i.e.: respond only when he behaves himself). I mean geez, he's starting to make italian wines look real bad! ;-)

I just picked up a few bottles of Nero d'Avola (ranging from $10-$32) for a Sicilian dinner party to be held on April 8. We'll open one Valtellina as well. It will be interesting to see how these compare.

I'm thinking primarily of the south and the islands. Tuscany, Piedmont, and the NE, I believe, have been the areas most influenced by Parker. The south is rather more traditional, I think. Rugged individualism still reigns supreme.

Sure. Yeah. Right.

Hardly. Donnafugata and Planeta are Sicilian fans of the "international style" you hate, and famous for it. Aussie winemakers are making a lot of money from your stoic, rustic and quaint southern friends. Check out Apulia for a case in point.

Marcello

Marcello:

I doubt that Taurino or Argiolas gives a damn about what Parker thinks...

And you can tell everyone in Italy 'Hi' for me, and to stay as far away from Americanizaion of their wines as possible. I want Italian wine, made from idigenous Italian grapes, made in traditional styles, not some 'international' style that is not French, nor American, nor Italian. I want wine that screams where it came from...

skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

YES!

Parker has rarely reviewed Valtellina wines. I believe he likes Sforzato or Sfursat but I doubt he has reviewed any. In general he finds Valtellina's light and simple. I tried a few times to interest him in the region but unless DeGrazia or LoCascio or Empson bring some into the US both he & the Spectator are not interested. Less Valtellina sold in the US means more for the Swiss & Germans. Most consumers & merchants in the US are looking for testicular nebbiolo and the superior pairing with food of the Valtellina is mostly unknown.

'Light and simple'? He's crazier than I thought!

I could say something about imbecilic Americans, but I won't. Ooops...

Grumello. Inferno. Sassella.

This is the Valtellina I can get most often:

Conti Sertoli Salis

'Light and simple'? He's crazier than I thought!

I could say something about imbecilic Americans, but I won't. Ooops...

Grumello. Inferno. Sassella.

This is the Valtellina I can get most often:

Conti Sertoli Salis

That's too bad.

Yeah, Max, I agree. Lines like "savage counterattack" seem designed to inflame. Not exactly a journalistic highpoint.

Agreed, Michael. But the reality is that if one tries to separate out the silly from the supposedly intelligent, it all loops back eventually. He never "behaves" himself.

I would take issue with your previous assertion that he might have something to offer re Italian wines. Being able to name comparatively obscure Italian grapes does not make one knowledgable, it means you have a book or a computer program, there are plenty of both. I can't imagine learning anything from anyone who decries everything French and the use of oak, then names as "the epitome of Italian wine" a wine aged in barriques (Allier, Nevers, Troncais) for 12 months. Who decries Parker and internationalization, but then holds up as an example the F*&^ing Gambero Rosso guide (I have pretty broad tastes, but up until last two years the Tuscan and Piedmont sections of GR 3B have read like the de Grazia Brotherhood of Oaky Winemaking -I did see Bartolo Mascarello and Marcarini made the list last year, a hopeful sign). Who holds up Argiolas as an example of anti-Parker wine (Costera sells very well, because it's always at top of Parker's Italian best buys). Who claims that all wines are ruined by any oxygen exposure. Or who claims that Italian winemakers would be insulted to have anyone "taste" their wines (when I have friends who "taste" with Italian winemakers in their home every year).

I said I wouldn't , then answered last week. The mistake is worrying that someone might take the lack of response to his silliness as agreement. I shall be stronger from now on. .

I have tried many of the more obscure Italian wines, often after reading about them or simply asking the dealers what's in the catalogues...they are always helpful and courteous. They are bored, one assumes, with matrons asking about Charles Krug 'Cabernet'.

What are you talking about? I like Taurino and Argiolas and Mastroberrdino and many others.

Even Homer nodded...

I neither know nor care what Parker recommends, but I like Argiolas wines...

Breathing...ruins mature wine...breathing can help a very young (emphasis on 'very'), sharp wine to 'soften' a bit. I don't drink young wines, and recommend against the practice. No-one who knows anything about wine breathes well-aged wine. It's idiocy, and I don't care who thinks otherwise.

Then those aren't Italians...they have been taken over by the pods....

More crap is written about wine than any field except photography...

Salut/Hi DaleW,

le/on 27 Mar 2006 12:48:31 -0800, tu disais/you said:-

Well said.

And take that as enthusiatic agreement with the whole of your post.

He's a really serious pest on this board, IMO.

So was Socrates....

So was Socrates....

May I recommend the hemlock then?

Being released now in Tuscany, Cicuta DOCG grand cru Maculata 2006 by Beyondee Sainthood, very long in the mouth, nose of carrot, parsnip, herbaceous, marshy, earthy, muddy, gravelly, hints of cat pee, dog pee, dog poo, cat poo, still a little young but promises to age well in a wooden cask.