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THE BURNING QUESTION Sharing experiences might be useful if
How influential are wine critics in the independent trade?
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there was an appropriate forum. I don’t
To be honest, it’s not a deliberate choice, but I don’t really read wine criticism or watch it on TV. I suppose I spend a lot of time with suppliers and producers and I feel I get enough of a vibe from them in terms of what’s good and interesting and so forth. I think for some of my customers what the critics say has some importance, but then again lots of people like to use wine-rating apps like Vivino to get peer reviews.
pretend, incidentally, to be especially
masterful at this art. In terms of dealing with aggressive drunkenness I can only think of one time in nearly 20 years.
It involved an Irish gentleman of the
travelling community. I was obliged to
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escort the man out of the building and,
Liam Plowman Wild + Lees, London
vexingly, he appeared to cast a spell on me! There again my shop is in a relatively
crime-free leafy area in the home counties. Indeed, I have no doubt there are a good deal of horror stories out there that will make my Irishman pale by comparison. But alcoholism exists in every
community and I have been exposed over the years to my fair share of alcoholics,
believe me; and I like to think I have been
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I often feel we pay more attention to them than the general public does. The customers are better informed than they used to be and they don’t need their hand held quite so much. So it’s not like back to the 80s with Jilly Goolden. Obviously Jancis can write the hell out of anything and so can Tim Atkin – I may not share the same taste as them, but I do like reading them and I consider it entertainment as much as an information thing.
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of some help to some of them.
James Wrobel Cornelius Beer & Wine, Edinburgh
It might be a regular who is a little shaky
and smells of alcohol (obviously a little
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drunk, but not offensive) and together with
Critics like Matthew Jukes, who people with a casual interest in wine will come across on a regular basis, have influence. Glossy magazines seem to be better at mentioning independents. I read Jonathan Ray in The Field for instance and he is good at recommending smaller merchants. The larger newspapers tend to favour the supermarkets, but in the days of internet trading, there’s no reason for them to do so. Most small businesses can deliver wine all over the country.
staff we play God: “If we don’t serve him,
someone else will.” “What if the rejection upsets him?” “He’s no trouble to us.” “I
know his son, shall we speak with him?” And so on.
We do what we can. At any rate, in our
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Great Horkesley shop we have embraced Dry January
these past few years and we continue to
promote sensible drinking at every opportunity. The axiom “drink
better, but less” has never been
more apt for our time, and what’s more I truly
believe it is good for business. It plays to
our strengths as independent specialists. Cheers everyone!
Matthew Iles Quercus Wines, Westerham, Kent
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Twenty years ago the critics had a huge influence. They all had great big columns in all the main papers, and now they have rather a diminished influence. Perhaps for the better in some ways, because they were a little bit too powerful. Independents have always had less of a go with the critics but that’s because they are working on a regional platform. I think on the whole they are pretty good. I tend to follow Jancis Robinson, and Simon Woods on Facebook. He comes from Manchester so he’s more involved in our local area. Francis Peel Whitebridge Wines, Stone, Staffordshire
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Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584
THE WINE MERCHANT MARCH 2019 11