la réponse de Antonio
Antonio Galloni
Posts:
5,281
September 10
edited September 10Thank you for your comments and questions. Apologies for taking some time to reply, I have been in tastings back to back in Italy this last week.This article was written by Jason Wilson, who wrote several articles for us in 2019 and 2020. Out of respect for Jason’s privacy, we will not disclose the reasons why we chose to not continue our working relationship, but it had nothing to do with the scores of specific wines.
Pay to PlayThere is no “Pay to Play” at Vinous. Although the statement about an unknown critic asking for a payment for a specific score is not explicitly directed at Vinous, its placement in this article could lead a reader to make that connection. So, let me be clear. Vinous has never offered scores in exchange for payment. Never. Unsubstantiated claims such as this one are reckless and unprofessional. Vinous does not accept advertising, publish sponsored content/advertorials and does not provide deliverables with controlled outcomes. We have never deleted an unfavorable review, although I have been asked to do that several times. The answer has always been a very firm No. The people who have asked know that, I know that, and now you know it too. We do have a track record of publishing negative reviews of generally highly-regarded wines in cases where we feel those wines have underperformed.Our first and primary mission is to provide critical and objective reviews of the wines we taste. If people in the trade are unequivocally enthusiastic and positive about our work, that would mean we aren’t doing our job. Undertake any meaningful analysis of Vinous’ scores compared to those of peer publications for the same wines. The results will show plenty of instances where Vinous scores are on the lower end of the spectrum. We are never afraid to critique. No doubt some in the trade wish that were not the case.
Trade OrganizationsIn many regions, trade organizations facilitate our tastings by collecting samples, organizing comparative tastings and ensuring wineries are compliant with our terms of service, which require a Pro subscription to use scores for commercial purposes. Our critics decide which wines to taste. We do not impose any limit on the number of wines in specific articles, giving our team the editorial freedom to produce stunningly in-depth reports. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not make top-down decisions on the scope of coverage for any region based on some sort of concept of economic value of those regions. Our critics decide how many wines to review in each region. We are guided, first and foremost, by what we think our readers are interested in. Specifically with regards to South America, the statement in this article about an unnamed publication adding coverage of a country because of association funding is not about Vinous. For those of you with an interest, we have reviewed the wines of Argentina and Chile since 2014, when we acquired Steve Tanzer’s
International Wine Cellar. Tanzer covered Argentina for us annually until 2019, when he started to reduce his work schedule. Josh Raynolds covered Chile in reports published most years until 2017. Prior to his retirement, Tanzer chose Joaquin Hidalgo as his successor. Tanzer and Hidalgo tasted together twice before Hidalgo took over the South American beat from Tanzer and Raynolds. Having a dedicated South American critic has allowed us to expand coverage significantly in both regions, resulting in more information for the consumer and greater representation of smaller wineries that might otherwise not reach an audience. For example, Vinous published more than 1,600 reviews of Argentine wines in 2021, which is more than double the previous reports and significantly more than any other publication.
Subscription OptionsVinous offers a number of subscription options for consumers and the trade, as outlined
here
. Specifically with regards to trade options, none of our programs allows that “poorly reviewed wines aren’t listed,” as the article claims.
The Vinous Lockdown Special ReportThis is an article I wrote in the summer of 2020. My world was turned upside down as was everyone’s. I thought it would be fun to do an article of odds and ends that combined reviews of reference point producers we don’t cover regularly (Kracher, Zind-Humbrecht) and other estates that interest me personally that I don’t taste often. The article had 202 reviews from 28 estates. Those wineries are represented in the United States by at least 9 importers and of course many more internationally, where nearly half our readership resides. I asked for samples until my house was overfull, and those wines became the article. There’s nothing more to it than that. With regards to the Loire, a careful examination of scores will reveal minor differences between Jason’s scores and mine, but also one wine that Rebecca Gibb has given a lower score than both of us. Rebecca has since published lower scores for some wines Jason tasted that I did not. That’s just how it goes. There is nothing systemic here.
Vinous MapsWe began our foray into maps in 2016. It was our belief then, as it is today, that American wine regions were badly in need of high-quality maps. Vinous was the first company to plot the vineyards of Napa Valley, site by site, profoundly changing how wine lovers understand the region. I am tremendously proud of the work we have done. These are state of the art maps of deep historical significance that will forever change the way American wines are viewed. Unfortunately, these maps are extremely costly and time consuming to produce. Vinous funded 100% of our first collection of seven Napa Valley maps, knowing they might never be profitable. Over time, though, wineries and regions began reaching out to us, asking us to make maps for them. Some of our more recent maps have been created with an option for wineries in the region to have maps of their specific sites done in parallel with the AVA maps. These vineyard maps are completely optional and are offered at a significantly reduced cost than if our cartographer were making them from scratch. Vinous Maps are designed to be reference-point works. We map all known vineyards in each region and I have written every single word of the detailed commentary that is on the back of the maps. Suffice to say, Vinous controls and owns all the intellectual property.