Showing posts with label James Suckling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Suckling. Show all posts
Monday, April 1, 2013
Downfall of a Cult Californian Winery . . . Bob Returns
A couple of years since our favourite Californian winery ripped up its Cabernet vines in order to prepare for life after Robert Parker, the team is taking the winery owner through the vineyard changes . . .
For the original Downfall of a Cult Californian Winery video, please see below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lIvGuCPZOc
Thursday, June 21, 2012
WINE WARS EPISODE 3 - NATURAL WINE
In the latest installment of the inter-gallactic battle for the future of wine, Obi-Wan, Luke and the Droids have set off for Mos Eisley, seeking a smuggler of Natural Wine who can transport them to Alderan. The fate of the Biodynamic Wine Alliance depends on their mission.
Click HERE to View Wine Wars Episode 3
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wine Wars - Episode 1: A Vinous Hope
A short time in the future, in a galaxy not that far away, two diametrically opposed wine making factions face off in a battle that will decide the future of wine consumption in the galaxy:
LINK: Wine Wars - Episode 1: A Vinous Hope
LINK: Wine Wars - Episode 1: A Vinous Hope
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The turning of the Worm . . .
The past 12 months have represented a turning point when it comes to international opinion of Australian wine.
You may have watched political debates where the audience have handsets that produce a graph of viewer approval, which can look sort of like a worm inching along, rising and falling in response to the debate. For much of the noughties the worm headed south and well and truly into negative territory, as Australian wine came to be viewed internationally as industrial, alcoholic, and uninteresting. However, just in the last 12 months the worm has ticked back in the right direction. It is still a long way from positive territory, but it is a start. All of a sudden there are positive things being written and discussed about Australian wines by international commentators and critics. Whereas 3 or 4 years ago an opinion piece on Australian wine was invariably all about the negatives and stereotypes, now you can read pieces from British and American wine writers who are excited about what is coming out of this island continent.
The latest and perhaps strongest example of this is James Suckling's two week tour of Australia. The thing that I have liked most about his trip is the length, depth and breadth of what he is doing. As opposed to just visiting for a specific event, or one particular region, he’s covered 4 States, and multiple wine regions over a fortnight. His positive findings in terms of some of the wonderful wine Australia is now producing, may be self-evident to passionate wine people here in Australia, however, it is also very apparent that the message he is conveying in terms of the interest, quality, and character of Australian wine, is being heard for the very first time by many consumers overseas, particularly in the US.
The message that Suckling and other international commentators are beginning to deliver is that Australia is producing wines of moderate alcohol that express a true sense of place. The reality is that this has always been on offer with Australian wine if you knew where to look. These types of wineries were, however, in the minority in the recent past, and the international perception of Australian wine certainly didn’t allow this view of Australian wine much of a look in. Now, however, these types of Australian wines can be found without huge amounts of effort or knowledge. There are seemingly a multitude of wineries from every significant Australian wine region, producing unique, terroir driven wines. Seeing a winery like Mac Forbes in 2010 producing 6 different Pinot Noirs from 6 different sites in the Yarra Valley, is perhaps a somewhat extreme, yet also perfect example of this trend. Some great reviews by Mike Bennie of these wines are up on the www.winefront.com.au
The naughties will be remembered as somewhat of a nadir for Australian wine. Criticism and tough times in any industry, however, often result in greater levels of innovation and a push for quality, and this is what we have seen in Australian wine, particularly over the past 5 years. I’ve previously written about how positive trends around the expression of site, vine age, clonal selection, organic/biodynamic practices, and screwcaps, are all leading to a golden age in Australian wine in the coming decade http://redtobrownwinereview.blogspot.com/2011/04/beginnings-of-golden-age-in-australian.html
For this renaissance to ring true however, it requires critical acclaim to provide support and succour for the great efforts of our winemakers. It now looks like this acclaim has moved beyond just Australian commentators (who rightly or wrongly could always be accused of parochialism when it comes to their own wines), and is being taken up by prominent international critics. I’d best buy up for my cellar now, while there is still so much amazing value out there.
Red
You may have watched political debates where the audience have handsets that produce a graph of viewer approval, which can look sort of like a worm inching along, rising and falling in response to the debate. For much of the noughties the worm headed south and well and truly into negative territory, as Australian wine came to be viewed internationally as industrial, alcoholic, and uninteresting. However, just in the last 12 months the worm has ticked back in the right direction. It is still a long way from positive territory, but it is a start. All of a sudden there are positive things being written and discussed about Australian wines by international commentators and critics. Whereas 3 or 4 years ago an opinion piece on Australian wine was invariably all about the negatives and stereotypes, now you can read pieces from British and American wine writers who are excited about what is coming out of this island continent.
The latest and perhaps strongest example of this is James Suckling's two week tour of Australia. The thing that I have liked most about his trip is the length, depth and breadth of what he is doing. As opposed to just visiting for a specific event, or one particular region, he’s covered 4 States, and multiple wine regions over a fortnight. His positive findings in terms of some of the wonderful wine Australia is now producing, may be self-evident to passionate wine people here in Australia, however, it is also very apparent that the message he is conveying in terms of the interest, quality, and character of Australian wine, is being heard for the very first time by many consumers overseas, particularly in the US.
The message that Suckling and other international commentators are beginning to deliver is that Australia is producing wines of moderate alcohol that express a true sense of place. The reality is that this has always been on offer with Australian wine if you knew where to look. These types of wineries were, however, in the minority in the recent past, and the international perception of Australian wine certainly didn’t allow this view of Australian wine much of a look in. Now, however, these types of Australian wines can be found without huge amounts of effort or knowledge. There are seemingly a multitude of wineries from every significant Australian wine region, producing unique, terroir driven wines. Seeing a winery like Mac Forbes in 2010 producing 6 different Pinot Noirs from 6 different sites in the Yarra Valley, is perhaps a somewhat extreme, yet also perfect example of this trend. Some great reviews by Mike Bennie of these wines are up on the www.winefront.com.au
The naughties will be remembered as somewhat of a nadir for Australian wine. Criticism and tough times in any industry, however, often result in greater levels of innovation and a push for quality, and this is what we have seen in Australian wine, particularly over the past 5 years. I’ve previously written about how positive trends around the expression of site, vine age, clonal selection, organic/biodynamic practices, and screwcaps, are all leading to a golden age in Australian wine in the coming decade http://redtobrownwinereview.blogspot.com/2011/04/beginnings-of-golden-age-in-australian.html
For this renaissance to ring true however, it requires critical acclaim to provide support and succour for the great efforts of our winemakers. It now looks like this acclaim has moved beyond just Australian commentators (who rightly or wrongly could always be accused of parochialism when it comes to their own wines), and is being taken up by prominent international critics. I’d best buy up for my cellar now, while there is still so much amazing value out there.
Red
Friday, December 31, 2010
James Suckling and R Kelly – Searching for (unintentional) satirical perfection
If you have a passing interest in wine and how it is covered on the internet and social media, you may have noticed the promo videos put out by wine critic James Suckling for his new website.
For those not familiar with James Suckling, he is the former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator Magazine. Suckling recently gave up this dream role to strike out on his own and try to shake up the wine world, with a newly created subscription wine website the first step in that process. Unfortunately for James, the wine video ‘teasers’ released prior to the site going live have been panned by a few people on the internet, generating considerable comment and critique in the process.
The critiques range from the relatively civilised and considered to the rather crude and fully anonymous. For a pretty broad overview of the new media critique on James, the following link is a useful backgrounder: (Link)
To momentarily get serious, this post is not a defence of James Suckling. However, I must say that he has probably been given a bad rap – the talk of him being evil, exploitative and a douche are going too far, and arguably highlights the wine snob tendencies of some critics. His promo clips are objectively pretty bad, and I will not subscribe to his website (for financial reasons and the fact I can get better wine advice from other subscription sites). Though he is a well respected wine critic and has every right to try and make money with his wine website and pitch it to a certain type of wine buyer if he wants to. If you don’t like his approach, try to create something positive to compete with it (free, subscription, whatever). A topic for another post, and not the primary focus of this post, though I feel it needed to be said.
What amuses me about the subjectively awful promo ‘teaser’ videos is that they are so bad they are actually good. Furthermore, they remind me of a legendary set of video clips/songs by an artist from a different genre: R Kelly and his HipHopra opus: Trapped in the Closet Episodes 1-12.
Of the several Suckling promo teasers, two stick out - the “Searching for Perfection” video (or ‘I’m XY points on that’) and the “Im Here with” teaser.
The by-line from the first video has already been appropriated as a favoured term/meme on various social media forums – eg: “mocking the James Suckling promo videos? – I’m 92 points on that”. As if this gem wasn’t enough, I would personally argue that his ‘I’m here with’ teaser takes it to another level with his subtle and mysterious “I’m here....” closing line. James – what are you here for? Some more wine reviews at an elite winery?, some subtle seduction? Where is here? Bordeaux?, Burgundy? Piedmont?, the Cessnock Pub?
Both clips in my wine nerd /wanker view are pieces of unintentional satirical comedic genius. That might be taking it a bit too far, but I must say that the clips grow on me over time and become more funny than they are pretentious or condescending.
I find the James Suckling promo videos amusing as wine satire to the point it is still hard to believe he produced these videos as serious vehicles to generate hype for his website. If Suckling came out tomorrow and said “it was all a viral ploy to generate a bit of hype for the website, but primarily to poke fun at wine critics from the inside out” I would applaud him. As of the time of writing, the joke has not been called, so we must assume the Suckling teaser videos are serous and sincere.
To add to my enjoyment of the suckling clips, the teaser videos remind me of R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet series of songs/video clips. (If you are yet to be introduced to the best example of “so bad it is good’ pop culture, go here for a taste).
In terms of similarities, both were released in regular instalments (episodes 1-5 of Trapped...) over a number of weeks, presumably to let the suspense build. Self evidently, they are both so bad, that for me they are actually quite good. Thirdly, there is ambiguity regarding whether both sets of clips were intentionally or unintentionally funny, adding to the intrigue and enjoyment (unintentionally creating satire is a feat to be admired, even if the creator tries to defend or distance themselves from the end product).
R Kelly has argued that Trapped in the Closet 1-12 was intentionally tongue in cheek, and that his initial claims to have invented a new genre of music (hiphopra) were part of the gag. His less impressive (or less amusingly cringe worthy) follow-up ‘Trapped in the Closet 13-22 was arguably an attempt to further paint Trapped... as a joke and not a serious piece of art so poor it was assumed by most to actually be a joke.
Noting that Suckling does not look like coming out like R Kelly and admitting his clips are a joke, part of me would love to see Suckling go loco and really shake things up – eg: move into avant garde wine clip territory and release a teaser clip that is the wine equivalent of a Zaireeka era Flaming Lips song. Based on his ‘serious’ wine teasers, such a clip would make a 100pt Robert Parker Jr wine review or a Gary Vaynerchuck ‘sniffy sniff’ Wine Library TV review seem even more passé, smallfry and decidedly conventional (even if delivered from a helicopter).
Wine nerds/wankers like me can only dream of such an outcome in the wine entertainment world, but for now I will have to settle on James Suckling searching for perfection in one of the many locations of the world he is visiting and monitoring the at-times amusing backlash against the promotion for his website. Go easy on him: it may turn out to be serious, or a joke, but it is entertaining regardles. For that, James Suckling should be sincerely commended.
 |
| "I'm here with Red to Brown" |
If you have a passing interest in wine and how it is covered on the internet and social media, you may have noticed the promo videos put out by wine critic James Suckling for his new website.
For those not familiar with James Suckling, he is the former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator Magazine. Suckling recently gave up this dream role to strike out on his own and try to shake up the wine world, with a newly created subscription wine website the first step in that process. Unfortunately for James, the wine video ‘teasers’ released prior to the site going live have been panned by a few people on the internet, generating considerable comment and critique in the process.
The critiques range from the relatively civilised and considered to the rather crude and fully anonymous. For a pretty broad overview of the new media critique on James, the following link is a useful backgrounder: (Link)
To momentarily get serious, this post is not a defence of James Suckling. However, I must say that he has probably been given a bad rap – the talk of him being evil, exploitative and a douche are going too far, and arguably highlights the wine snob tendencies of some critics. His promo clips are objectively pretty bad, and I will not subscribe to his website (for financial reasons and the fact I can get better wine advice from other subscription sites). Though he is a well respected wine critic and has every right to try and make money with his wine website and pitch it to a certain type of wine buyer if he wants to. If you don’t like his approach, try to create something positive to compete with it (free, subscription, whatever). A topic for another post, and not the primary focus of this post, though I feel it needed to be said.
What amuses me about the subjectively awful promo ‘teaser’ videos is that they are so bad they are actually good. Furthermore, they remind me of a legendary set of video clips/songs by an artist from a different genre: R Kelly and his HipHopra opus: Trapped in the Closet Episodes 1-12.
Of the several Suckling promo teasers, two stick out - the “Searching for Perfection” video (or ‘I’m XY points on that’) and the “Im Here with” teaser.
The by-line from the first video has already been appropriated as a favoured term/meme on various social media forums – eg: “mocking the James Suckling promo videos? – I’m 92 points on that”. As if this gem wasn’t enough, I would personally argue that his ‘I’m here with’ teaser takes it to another level with his subtle and mysterious “I’m here....” closing line. James – what are you here for? Some more wine reviews at an elite winery?, some subtle seduction? Where is here? Bordeaux?, Burgundy? Piedmont?, the Cessnock Pub?
Both clips in my wine nerd /wanker view are pieces of unintentional satirical comedic genius. That might be taking it a bit too far, but I must say that the clips grow on me over time and become more funny than they are pretentious or condescending.
I find the James Suckling promo videos amusing as wine satire to the point it is still hard to believe he produced these videos as serious vehicles to generate hype for his website. If Suckling came out tomorrow and said “it was all a viral ploy to generate a bit of hype for the website, but primarily to poke fun at wine critics from the inside out” I would applaud him. As of the time of writing, the joke has not been called, so we must assume the Suckling teaser videos are serous and sincere.
To add to my enjoyment of the suckling clips, the teaser videos remind me of R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet series of songs/video clips. (If you are yet to be introduced to the best example of “so bad it is good’ pop culture, go here for a taste).
 |
| "Don't make me pull out the wine equivalent of my Beretta" |
R Kelly has argued that Trapped in the Closet 1-12 was intentionally tongue in cheek, and that his initial claims to have invented a new genre of music (hiphopra) were part of the gag. His less impressive (or less amusingly cringe worthy) follow-up ‘Trapped in the Closet 13-22 was arguably an attempt to further paint Trapped... as a joke and not a serious piece of art so poor it was assumed by most to actually be a joke.
Noting that Suckling does not look like coming out like R Kelly and admitting his clips are a joke, part of me would love to see Suckling go loco and really shake things up – eg: move into avant garde wine clip territory and release a teaser clip that is the wine equivalent of a Zaireeka era Flaming Lips song. Based on his ‘serious’ wine teasers, such a clip would make a 100pt Robert Parker Jr wine review or a Gary Vaynerchuck ‘sniffy sniff’ Wine Library TV review seem even more passé, smallfry and decidedly conventional (even if delivered from a helicopter).
Wine nerds/wankers like me can only dream of such an outcome in the wine entertainment world, but for now I will have to settle on James Suckling searching for perfection in one of the many locations of the world he is visiting and monitoring the at-times amusing backlash against the promotion for his website. Go easy on him: it may turn out to be serious, or a joke, but it is entertaining regardles. For that, James Suckling should be sincerely commended.
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