Good Wine Coverage With Tanzer and Raynolds

J

Joe Dressner

Joe Dressner
The combination of Steve Tanzer and Josh Raynolds are putting out some very good stuff lately.

Between Steve Tanzer's established International Wine Cellar and Josh's fresh coverage of regions that were neglected in the past by the traditional wine press, I find a lot of interesting and up-to-date coverage.

Much of the magazine is more traditional than my taste, but through print media and internet supplementary reports, I thing the two boys are doing a noteworthy job. There is a certain freshness to the writing and an attempt to get coverage out before everything is gone and sold out.

Take a look.
 
The key to their efforts is the quality of and emphasis on their writing. Scores from them almost seem supplementary. It's a bit of fresh air compared to the WS and WA.
 
DS and AG are on point. I especially enjoy reading Galloni. Perhaps I've generalized too much with what I said, but what I mean is that its nice to have another source of critical wine writing outside of WA and WS. Though David and Antonio are clearly ahead of the rest of the pack (from either WA or WS) I find that alternative sources of information more interesting. And in the case of Tanzer and Raynolds, they are at or above the level of their contemporaries from any publication, in my humble opinion.
 
I always think I should subscribe since Josh is there, but the "flavor descriptors followed by number" literary form is so limited. I wish they did some Gilman-like longer format work. Or perhaps they do and I don't know?
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
I always think I should subscribe since Josh is there, but the "flavor descriptors followed by number" literary form is so limited. I wish they did some Gilman-like longer format work. Or perhaps they do and I don't know?
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93 points!

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
I always think I should subscribe since Josh is there, but the "flavor descriptors followed by number" literary form is so limited. I wish they did some Gilman-like longer format work. Or perhaps they do and I don't know?
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Those longer tracts (and diatribes with photos) are available on the super-secret Brad Kane forum that I've heard rumored about lately on another thread.

Personally, I rarely buy anything unless I've consulted Josh's reviews of the wine. Over the past few years I've found that my palate correlates to his more than any other major critic out there, although I find that James Molesworth's Rhne reviews are hitting the bullseye as far as my palate is concerned. He's much more consistent than any of the other WS reviewers. His Loire palate is okay, but I defer to VLM's writing on that subject vis-a-vis my purchase decisions. Schildknecht is amazing in his German/Austrian reviews and is so thorough as to have me so tired out by the time I'm finished with his review that I forget to buy the wine. Probably not a bad thing given the present state of my finances (ie: zippo/zilch/nada/nichts/-vaccuum-) but at least I know histasting notes are correct and the umlauts are all over the right vowels (whoda thunk that you'd put one of them over the second 'a' in Blaufrnkisch?)

-Eden (screw points, I'm going back to prongs)(and furthermore, Raynolds has better taste in music than the next five wine critics combined. Not everything he recommends is brilliant, but his recommendations are better than Rolling Stone, Creem, Mojo, Esquire, and Paste combined)
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
The issue remains of whether a wine is tasted in a context resembling how it will be a consumed at home, with a meal.
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I was invited over to Stephen Tanzer's house awhile back for a Sunday work tasting with Mr. Tanzer and Josh.

There were about 10 wines. There was some excellent salumni. Also some finely ripe cheese. I had the impression that Josh and Stephen try to vye with each other to see who will deliver the more delicious foodstuff to the tasting.

There was a lot of discussion, and a lot of going back to wines after listening to someone else talk a bit about them. I really appreciated the exchange of opinions and there were some good stories. I am fairly sure some jokes were told.

I came away with a more favorable opinion of a couple of wines that I would have been apt to give short shrift to previously.

It was a long evening. It seemed to me very pleasant and pretty much exactly how I would imagine I would like to spend time more often.

Also, Stephen Tanzer's apartment is decorated with a fantastic eye. I've never known furnishings, decorations, and paintings to work so well together outside of a museum.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
The issue remains of whether a wine is tasted in a context resembling how it will be a consumed at home, with a meal.
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Enter Gerry Dawes.

And the wine has to be released at a time when it can be evaluated using such criteria.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
The issue remains of whether a wine is tasted in a context resembling how it will be a consumed at home, with a meal.
Click to expand...

I was invited over to Stephen Tanzer's house awhile back for a Sunday work tasting with Mr. Tanzer and Josh.

There were about 10 wines. There was some excellent salumni. Also some finely ripe cheese. I had the impression that Josh and Stephen try to vye with each other to see who will deliver the more delicious foodstuff to the tasting.

There was a lot of discussion, and a lot of going back to wines after listening to someone else talk a bit about them. I really appreciated the exchange of opinions and there were some good stories. I am fairly sure some jokes were told.

I came away with a more favorable opinion of a couple of wines that I would have been apt to give short shrift to previously.

It was a long evening. It seemed to me very pleasant and pretty much exactly how I would imagine I would like to spend time more often.

Also, Stephen Tanzer's apartment is decorated with a fantastic eye. I've never known furnishings, decorations, and paintings to work so well together outside of a museum.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the background, transportatively described. Perhaps it's not the average everyday domestic context (certainly not mine, except for the apartment), but they obviously taste the wines in a congenial situation.

Dot, what is Gerry Dawes known for? Google shows he's a food writer specialized in Spain, and your second comment makes me think of LdH...
 
I love them like brothers, but I think if you weigh the magazine, Josh and Steve are not quietly tasting 10 wines with food every night. More wine to taste than that would allow.
 
yep, Spanish wine, food, culture, anti-culture, counter-culture, history, etc.

some cool stuff in his blog, e.g. look up April 2007 Galicia story.

used to cover Spain for Tanzer, at about the same time when Schildknecht covered Germany.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
I love them like brothers, but I think if you weigh the magazine, Josh and Steve are not quietly tasting 10 wines with food every night. More wine to taste than that would allow.
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Are you saying they held out on me?

Bastards.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
originally posted by SFJoe:
I love them like brothers, but I think if you weigh the magazine, Josh and Steve are not quietly tasting 10 wines with food every night. More wine to taste than that would allow.
Click to expand...

Are you saying they held out on me?

Bastards.
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Sort of. Josh held out on the cheese, I am sure.
 
BTW, it's Josh that's has been covering Spain for IWC for the past couple of years. It could sound self-serving (and it probably is), but I'm very happy about the way he does it. Other publications are covering Spanish wines in much more haphazard fashion. All of the good producers I know around here are happy (and, should I say - relieved?) with Josh's coverage. BTW, I agree about the great interest of Gerry Dawes' work (although, darn it, he hates purple wine). Find it here.
 
originally posted by David M. Bueker:
John,

You consider David Schildknecht and Antonio Galloni's writing in the Wine Advocate sub-par? I find that hard to believe.
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I think both write well and comprehensively and in Schildknecht's case in many more places than the WA.
IMO Neal Martin provides a particularly good counterpoint on Bordeaux.

And I find both Tanzer and Raynolds excellent value too.
 
originally posted by nigel groundwater:

IMO Neal Martin provides a particularly good counterpoint on Bordeaux.
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completely unaware of this; where does he cover Bordeaux?
 
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