Chris Kissack & Jim Budd banned from tasting Huet's 2013s.
- Thread starter Brad Kane
- Start date
Jay Miller
Jay Miller
Everyone who has met him has said that Tony is a true, gracious, gentleman. That doesn't seem to be where the problem is.
Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Did you reply to my question in the other thread?
Lou Kessler
Lou Kessler
I was over in Sonoma this morning and while picking up wine talked to Barry H. who runs Rare Wine on the west coast. He was unaware of the depth of the arguement that took place and the ongoing conversations created on the internet. He was honestly perplexed why anyone would bite their own ass like Huet seems to have done. Barry said he would look into the hassle, seeing as they do a pretty good amount of business with the Huet line out here.
Lou Kessler
Lou Kessler
I was over in Sonoma this morning and while picking up wine talked to Barry H. who runs Rare Wine on the west coast. He was unaware of the depth of the arguement that took place and the ongoing conversations created on the internet. He was honestly perplexed why anyone would bite their own ass like Huet seems to have done. Barry said he would look into the hassle, seeing as they do a pretty good amount of business with the Huet line out here.
SteveTimko
Steve Timko
It would be nice if Huet would take the time to issue a statement to explain their side.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
"Well, my dad has all the talent, money, and manners. I just like ragging on the internet dweebs that hang around the table. I even make them stop typing so they can't get me on snapchat! Wanna go grab a couple PBRs?"
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
Young people are young.
Bill Lundstrom
Bill Lundstrom
Shouldn't young people understand the power of blogs, and Internet posting and shit going viral? I thought only us old folk made stupid mistakes like this.
Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
Well, the techniques, yes; the collateral implications, not so much. It also takes many people quite a few years to grow into their emotions.
John McIlwain
John McIlwain
Jersey girl. Them bitches cray.
I've been in contact with a friend, an acquaintance of Tony Hwang, who played a small role in the sale of Huet. Here's what he had to say:
As a fan of Huët's wines but which I knew to be in some disarray as a company, I thought that Tony - an unconditional fan of sweet wines - would be a good person to take over. However, his track record - firstly with Szépsy and then with Pinguet makes me suspect that either they, or he had unrealistic expectations of the other. He is/was without an extremely tough cookie, and will have made it perfectly clear that he expected the companies in which he invested to make money. If they didn't make as much as he expected, then either his expectations were unrealisable in practice (especially given the recession) or else his managers didn't believe he'd be as tough as he said he would. Certainly, when he has [sic] his bust up with Szépsy, Pinguet could do no wrong.
[...]
The comments about making more dry white, on the other hand, are entirely consistent with what happened at Királyudvár. Without going into a long history lesson, Tokaji Aszu is expensive to make partly because of the rules relating to fermentation times. He first of all started making a number of cuvées which did NOT have these long delays, made from botrytised grapes. He also made a dry Furmint based wine which at one time caused a sensation in terms of quality. And now we hear that he and Pinguet may have fallen out over the proprtion of time and effort going into dry wines. with Pinguet apparently wanting to put more emphasis on the sweet wines for which Huët was rightly famous. What I don't know is which came first, the chicken or the egg. Ie did Tony walk away saying to himself "I've more important fish to fry than to fight with Pinguet" (which he might well have had) - installing his kids to take over, or did he feel that he could no longer afford the time and effort in Huët because of increasing pressure of work in other areas, and in installing his children, unwittingly cause the inevitable ructions which could be down to something as silly as the fact that they don't necessarily share his passion for sweet wine.
He's currently trying to get some comment from Tony Hwang about this whole kerfuffle.
Mark Lipton
As a fan of Huët's wines but which I knew to be in some disarray as a company, I thought that Tony - an unconditional fan of sweet wines - would be a good person to take over. However, his track record - firstly with Szépsy and then with Pinguet makes me suspect that either they, or he had unrealistic expectations of the other. He is/was without an extremely tough cookie, and will have made it perfectly clear that he expected the companies in which he invested to make money. If they didn't make as much as he expected, then either his expectations were unrealisable in practice (especially given the recession) or else his managers didn't believe he'd be as tough as he said he would. Certainly, when he has [sic] his bust up with Szépsy, Pinguet could do no wrong.
[...]
The comments about making more dry white, on the other hand, are entirely consistent with what happened at Királyudvár. Without going into a long history lesson, Tokaji Aszu is expensive to make partly because of the rules relating to fermentation times. He first of all started making a number of cuvées which did NOT have these long delays, made from botrytised grapes. He also made a dry Furmint based wine which at one time caused a sensation in terms of quality. And now we hear that he and Pinguet may have fallen out over the proprtion of time and effort going into dry wines. with Pinguet apparently wanting to put more emphasis on the sweet wines for which Huët was rightly famous. What I don't know is which came first, the chicken or the egg. Ie did Tony walk away saying to himself "I've more important fish to fry than to fight with Pinguet" (which he might well have had) - installing his kids to take over, or did he feel that he could no longer afford the time and effort in Huët because of increasing pressure of work in other areas, and in installing his children, unwittingly cause the inevitable ructions which could be down to something as silly as the fact that they don't necessarily share his passion for sweet wine.
He's currently trying to get some comment from Tony Hwang about this whole kerfuffle.
Mark Lipton
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Silly me. I would have expected Dom. Huet to make wine.
Mike Evans
Mike Evans
La Revue du Vin de France has a quote from Sarah Hwang at http://www.larvf.com/,vin-domaine-h...gers-salon-des-vins-de-loire-vins,4363775.asp. Loosely translated (which is about as much as my rusty French will allow, so I welcome corrections from the more fluent), she concludes that she has chosen to defend the domaine, her team, and Vouvray. If she honestly believes that Vouvray needs defending from Kissack and Budd, two of the staunchest advocates for the region in the English language press, then her life to date must have been so privileged and sheltered that I almost pity her. Her justification suggests that she lacks the maturity and sense of perspective to supervise a sunglasses kiosk at a suburban mall, much less a historically great domaine. Heaven forbid she ever experiences a genuine adversary.
I doubt she believes that she is defending Vouvray, however. More likely, her statement is calculated to cloak her poor decision in a mantle of regional pride and some degree of anti-Anglophone sentiment, which would be despicable instead of merely pathetic.
I hope to see a more detailed statement from Ms. Hwang that proves that I've misjudged her, but I'm not holding my breath.
I doubt she believes that she is defending Vouvray, however. More likely, her statement is calculated to cloak her poor decision in a mantle of regional pride and some degree of anti-Anglophone sentiment, which would be despicable instead of merely pathetic.
I hope to see a more detailed statement from Ms. Hwang that proves that I've misjudged her, but I'm not holding my breath.
On a weird note, the article claims that neither Budd nor Kissack have been barred from the domaine: "Ils ne sont pas interdits de visite au domaine." So they can't taste at the Salon des vins de Loire but they can come to the estate? This does not add up. She says she decided to speak out to defend the domaine, the team, and Vouvray: "j'ai fait le choix de ne plus me taire pour défendre le domaine, notre équipe, et Vouvray."