In his 2012 Georgian Wine Guide Malkhaz Kharbedia reports that “the first example of modern Western wine journalism in Georgia†did not appear until 2006, to which wine professionals around the world might have shouted out ecstatically, “Hallelujah!â€
Or as the current Managing Director of a leading New York City fine wine retailer once acerbically remarked, “I think there are more wine writers in America than wine drinkers.â€
Why the vitriol? Reason one: Robert Parker, of whom a biography is entitled The Emperor of Wine.
In the late 1970’s, as Americans were taking to food and drink consumerism with what could sometimes seem like a feeding frenzy, Parker introduced a newsletter in which he reviewed wines and rated them on a 100-point scale, the latter affording accessibility to those who could not fathom the former.
Those who did not know “bouquet†from “buttery†or “structure†from “astringency†did know the difference between 98 and 84.