Wanted: An Asian Robert Parker!
Why we need Asian-based wine standards to grow the market in Asia.
It’s hard to define when wine history really started.
Did it all begin with the Greeks and their wine god Dionysos, or the Romans with Bacchus? Or, did it start in Anno Domini when the Bible depicted wine as the symbol of Christ’s blood?
What seems to be commonly accepted is that it’s a Western creation; nurtured under Western hands and described in Western jargon. If you observe the recent proliferation of courses from French pronunciation of grape varieties to wine and food matching to Western dishes, there seems to be a belief that Asian consumers have to endure painful training and teachings of all the technicalities like their Western counterparts, before they can fully enjoy the drink!
The Robert Parker Phenonemon
Let’s take a look at how Robert Parker became one of the most influential fine wine critics and authorities in the world…an American citizen, Robert Parker hails from Texas and decided to start publishing his detailed tasting notes and ranking system of wines on a 1-100 scale in a newsletter aptly named, The Wine Advocate.
Little did he know that he was soon going to rock the Bordeaux establishment by influencing taste and affecting wine prices and production. He had no formal wine education or qualifications, no sponsor, and he didn’t even have French ancestry in which to persuade wine drinkers of his expertise! All he set out to do was to create a system for rating wines based on his very own personal perception, feeling and taste. And it worked!
Opportunity for an Asian Robert Parker to set the next universal benchmark in wine rating
These days, there are lots of Asian wine critics who challenge his rating system and could well replace him in this part of the world – or at least create the next universal benchmark.
However, my intuition is that whoever it is, he or she needs to take a little bit of risk to re-think wine as if it was a true Asian legacy, and to re-invent a phraseology more aligned towards Asian palates, noses, eyes and minds.
Setting a new wine vocabulary
Since there is no tangible evidence that when one smells blackcurrant, tobacco, vanilla or leather, it is because there is a common chemical substance contained in all these references and what is in your glass, in theory anyone could legitimately re-create a brand new vocabulary as long was there is consistency. And, of course, there’s a lot of work that goes beyond just accurate translation: for example, “Pierre a Fusil” which refers to silex fragrances common in Chablis white Burgundy wine…well, you can understand why we just cannot go in that particular direction.
All in all, there is a real opportunity for the new generation of Asian wine advisors, critics and writers to create their own references from their own history. All they need is to use cultural references, taste and sense in order to make it easier for Asians to understand and relate to their compatriots – rather than using wine jargon created by French academics hundreds of years ago.
This article is written by Rene Wong, Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century.
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Arguing that regional tasting vocabularies should extend to include aromas and tastes more familiar to national culinary cultures has merit – numerous well-known ‘western’ wine writers across a spectrum from Robinson to Vaynerchuk have developed their own – but since Asian is a geopolitical term rather than a unifying culture, you’d need country-specific references.
There are no universal benchmarks of scoring now, so why does Asia have to set one? Don’t confuse expenditure at wine auctions with consumption levels and penetration.
While I agree that a more extended vocabulary may help to communicate the growing global interest in wine and the greater diversity of output in the marketplace, I dispute that there is a need to be “more aligned to Asian palates, noses, eyes and minds.”
Palates differ from person to person – fact, regardless of race – it is subjective in its essence. Scores, even by celebrated critics such as Parker, can provide guides and impressions, but ultimately you depend upon an instinct and knowledge you build up by tasting wines yourself. I have been disappointed by RP 90+ wines and I quickly learnt to accept this as differences in my palate to his. To be fair to Parker, he asserts this fact vigorously himself in his publications.
So forget scores and standardisation – if you want to build up an Asian (or Hong Kong) wine culture – you should simply encourage more ordinary people to enjoy it – make it accessible & as affordable as possible.