Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘A Fresh Take on the Fight Against “Parkerization”‘
In respect of Peter Hellman’s review of the new tome by Alice Feiring, how tiresome it is to learn of yet another wine book hyped on the premise of Robert Parker’s fallibility and the shop-worn cliché of his love for “unnaturally rich, alcoholic wines” [Food&Drink, “A Fresh Take on the Fight Against ‘Parkerization,'” May 7, 2008].
Whether or not one shares Mr. Parker’s tastes, to say his impact on wine-making has been “catastrophic” is just plain silly. For starters, the exponential, worldwide upgrade in quality, affordable wines is largely credited to Mr. Parker.
Not having read Ms. Feiring’s new tome, I can’t surmise whether the author has something unique and worthwhile to add to the mix, but it is interesting to note to what extent she, and other detractors of Mr. Parker, rely on his very celebrity to build their own reputations.
“If Mr. Parker’s taste in wine were simply his own, Ms. Feiring wouldn’t be on the warpath,” Mr. Hellman writes, but such breast-beating is blind to the elephant in the room: Mr. Parker’s success is built on the tastes of a wide and grateful public that is not quite ready to concede its gullibility or plebeian tastes.
ANTHONY KORF
New York, N.Y.
