Phillip Seldon was the founder for a magazine back in the mid-'70's called Vintage. When I was writing for them in the late '70's, HankRubin, originally wine columnist for BobApetit when it was a freebe published in KC by Pillsbury, was my editor. A finer man as you'd ever want to know. Phillip Seldon was a pretty controversial guy who had a propensity to sue at the drop of a hat. He authored "The Idiot's Complete Guide to Wine" in 1997, a book even some of us idiots found pretty useless. According to Google, he's publishing another Vintage magazine these days, one that I've never seen.
Dee Sindt was the editor/publisher of a magazine called WineWorld in about that same time frame, along w/ a guy named DickSherwin. Sherwin was also the original founder/owner of the LyttonSpringsWnry, that of the ugly black label w/ a picture of a bunch of Zinfandel grapes. According to a winemaker friend, Sherwin made his money publishing porno magazines in the LA area and speculation was that Sindt was one of his porno queens. I had a run-in w/ Sindt over her blanket statement that all of the (rain-besotted) Calif Cabs of the 1972 vintage would not last more than 10 yrs. I cited the '72 RidgeMonteBello as one that would easily go out 20 yrs or more, to which she roundly castigated me in print. It left deep emotional scars that I still have dificulty dealing with to this day. She was, of course, dead wrong. She's linked to http://www.WineMatch.com on Robin's WLDG board, but the site has little to offer in the way of information.
Since the mid-'80's, these folks have pretty much vanished from the wine scene, as best I can tell. Anbody out here in CyberSpace have any contact these days with either of these two famous folks and can offer up an update??
Tom
As an aside, I keep in touch w/ HankRubin & see him about every other year out in SanFrancisco. He really doesn't get the credit that's due him in both the food world and the wine world. He's really the one who should be credited w/ the Calif cuisine food movement that emphasizes locally-grown fresh ingredients that AliceWaters later championed. He founded the Berkley restaurant called The Pot Luck, to which Alice Waters was a frequent atendee at his weekly dinners. The wine list was an incredible one, for its time. Hank has authored a number of books over the yrs. His wife is Lillian Rubin, a highly regarded psychologist who's authored a number of very highly recommended books. Last time I saw Hank was over a yr ago and he seemed rather frail, but a mind has sharp as a tack and that same mischevious glint in his eye. Hank's about as fine a gentleman as I've ever met in my life and his name should be better known amongst all you folks.
Tom
