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Charlie Olken, Editor/Publisher of Connoisseurs’ Guide
Today, Charlie Oken, the Editor/Publisher of Connoisseurs' Guide (to California Wines) made my day when I saw the comment he wrote on Steve Heimoff's blog post, Joe Roberts is right about bullsh*t unreliable wine judge studies:
"It seems to me that we have long ago identified these massive tastings as exercises in marketing and not in wine criticism. How does a Gold Medal, earned in a competition in which the best candidates typically do not enter anyhow because they have nothing to prove mean more than a description and score from a respected critic who has demonstrated over time to understand the topic being covered. Give me Schildknecht on Riesling. Give me Gerry Dawes on Spanish wines. Give me the Decanter panel on claret. Despite his too high points, give me Parker on Rhones."
"It seems to me that we have long ago identified these massive tastings as exercises in marketing and not in wine criticism. How does a Gold Medal, earned in a competition in which the best candidates typically do not enter anyhow because they have nothing to prove mean more than a description and score from a respected critic who has demonstrated over time to understand the topic being covered. Give me Schildknecht on Riesling. Give me Gerry Dawes on Spanish wines. Give me the Decanter panel on claret. Despite his too high points, give me Parker on Rhones."
I know, I know, it's not the Nobel Prize, but it is no faint praise from one of the most respected wine critics in the business, one who has been at it for over thirty years.
The comment was especially welcome after an Anonymous poster sought to leave a scurrilous, hatchet-job message on one of my posts, basically telling me that I was no longer welcome in Spain.
Thank you, Charlie, thank you very much.
About Gerry Dawes
Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.
". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009.
Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television
series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Culinary Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com
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