Bashing the Wine Industry

From the attached article:

....First, I have to tell you some broader home truths about the world of wine.
Because it's not the world of refined elegance and gentle self-indulgence that you probably imagine.

Instead, it's populated by liars, scroungers and cheats, administered by charlatans and snake-oil salesman and run on a system of misrepresentation and ritualised fraud.
It's a world that still deliberately surrounds itself in impenetrable, pretentious and often plain misleading wine-speak, churned out by snobby writers and duplicitous merchants who delight in the obscure and the shadowy, the indistinct and the imprecise.

Often the relationship between producer and supposedly impartial writer turns out to be so close they could accurately be described as twin cheeks of the same backside....

Wine taste funny?

[David M. Bueker]

Good job at grabbing some snarky, inflamatory statements from a weak, repetitive article and using them to start conversation. Th headline of the article is actually the worst, and if there's a prize for misleading folks then Gluck should get it.

That is not an article. That is a rant, pure and simple. One wonders, among other things, if Gluck is now confessing that he was once part of an industry "that still deliberately surrounds itself in impenetrable, pretentious and often plain misleading wine-speak, churned out by snobby writers and duplicitous merchants who delight in the obscure and the shadowy, the indistinct and the imprecise. … Often the relationship between producer and supposedly impartial writer turns out to be so close they could accurately be described as twin cheeks of the same backside."

As for me… I am certainly opposed to tricks and games that can be played by producers, sales points or critics. That does not, however, say that everyone in the industry has been tainted. Generalizations are convenient. I cannot help, however, but think that Mr. Gluck has gone just a wee bit overboard in assuming that all or even a great many of his generalizations are to be taken as absolute truths. With apologies to Mr. Shakespeare, methinks the former critic doth protest too much.

Best
Rogov

Bit sad, isn't it.

Gluck apparently was content to be a whore for most of his life (in his mind, at least, and tha's what counts); now he's trying to repudiate himself and the industry like a later day Mary Magdalene?

Self flagellation is an interesting phenomenon to behold. Shame that he has chosen to take such a jaundiced view, but perhaps that's what he needed to do for his own personal rehabilitation. I'm quite sure this inflammatory and rather tedious little diatribe isn't in any way a bid to gain attention for himself, and not coincidentally sell more articles

Mr. Gluck seems heedless that his colorful description of the two cheeks of a metaphor places him roundly between those two apposites.

Funny it takes an American posting on a US forum to highlight this advert for Gluck's new book. No mention of it on the UK forum -- but I guess that is no one there reads the Daily Wail.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - maybe this kind of material is simply in response to the recent rise of the wine fad, where more and more people quickly become involved in wine appreciation? When it became the 'in' thing to do in many circles?

This article is simply trying to sell the book, and that's why it's so provocative. But in some ways I agree with the argument that much of the wine industry is based on creating emotional resonance among consumers. And the hype is often very different from the reality of the manufacturing process of making wine. I think the wine industry is 'romantisized' quite a bit by various agents (e.g., producers, marketers, distributors, retailers, writers), as it's in their best interests to do so, just like in any other business. Marketing is about creating a brand and an idealized image for that brand - and of setting pricing structures that support that image and brand.

Besides the irritating repeating, it takes some good common sense points and magnifies them into nonsense in trying to be provocative. I'd love to see him come up with current examples of Petrus or Margaux in UK that is actually Languedoc (Yes, he says "often to Far East", and I'm sure there's plenty of fake wine sold in new markets, but the reader in UK is supposed to be worried), or current proof of wine from other countries being added to Burgundy. 5% of exported fine wine is fake? Hmm.

For interest (and it's worth noting this was his employer's defence of him in response to the issue being raised by rival newspapers)... this is the Guardian's defence of Gluck in light of significant conflicts of interest with his writing / commercial interests.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4102 ... 18,00.html

Not long after this, Gluck was replaced by Victoria Moore.

Odd that he rails on others as " liars, scroungers and cheats, administered by charlatans and snake-oil salesman and run on a system of misrepresentation and ritualised fraud."

FWIW (IMO) he's attention-seeking, very intentionally provocative and whilst there is a genuine need for someone to challenge the Status Quo in wine writing circles, he's the least able person to do it I could think of. He's may be a nice person out of the public eye.

regards

Ian

Thank you for posting that link Ian. I was earlier trying to make a similar post regarding events preceding Gluck's departure from The Guardian, but was struggling to find words that could not be construed as libellous.

He's the same airbag who announced that winemakers "are adding hydrochloric acid to wine". With of course, no link to any data at all.

He also said in the Daily Telegraph:

Malcolm Gluck, author of The Great Wine Swindle, said: "Many, many wines are no better than a sort of alcoholic cola. You get artificial yeasts, enzymes, sugar, extracts, tannins, all sorts of things added."

And how do you like the way he ties these three items together?

The investigation found traces of fungicide in leading Champagne brands and discovered that experts struggled to distinguish between a £6.99 sparkling wine and a Champange three times the price.

Jancis Robinson, the wine writer, told the programme: "From my point of view perhaps about 30 per cent of all champagne is worth the money."

Talk about a swindle.

Artificial yeasts? That's not the half of it - I heard some winemakers even use artificial grape varieties rather that the ones that would grow wild in the vineyard! Not only that, but I can exclusively reveal they graft them onto American rootstock. No good will come of it - you mark my words.

Artificial yeasts? That's not the half of it - I heard some winemakers even use artificial grape varieties rather that the ones that would grow wild in the vineyard! Not only that, but I can exclusively reveal they graft them onto American rootstock. No good will come of it - you mark my words.

One of the best wine-related posts in the last century! Bravo.

Best
Rogov

Artificial yeasts? That's not the half of it - I heard some winemakers even use artificial grape varieties rather that the ones that would grow wild in the vineyard! Not only that, but I can exclusively reveal they graft them onto American rootstock. No good will come of it - you mark my words.

Priceless!

"Both jobs, I hasten to add, were back in the good old days, when supermarkets actually sold decent, good value wine - something of an rarity these days."

I sorta lost interest after that one. Guy's not remotely connected to reality.

On the other hand, it's true that one of the most weaselly phrases in the wine business appears in the tiniest print at the bottom of some Champagne labels: "Elabore par..."

Come visit the wineries in Idaho. Yes, Idaho. We are part of the Northwest. Directly east of Portland, OR, (Willamette Valley). Parallel to Walla Walla, yet below the 45th parallel. Long hot days, cool nights tempered by the same Snake River that winds through Washington before it melds with the Columbia. Heat units that don't quit.

Healthy vineyards, our vines are own rooted (not grafted), and we grow really good wine.

Mark my words.

ted