HWSRN interviewed by Liv-ex.

[JonoB]

Link to their blog can be found here.

He seems to recognise plenty of issues that we have discussed here for a while.
Does he read these pages and threads?

He rarely mentions some of these things on eBOB. :p

[Bacchus]

That's great, Jonathan. I had provided the link to part 1 of the interview, glad to see part 2 is now available.

[Bacchus]

Now that HE's declared 2001 an underrated vintage, I can't help but wonder if the prices will rise? I'm sure we can all agree that there has been much improvement in the Margaux appellation over the last decade. I have to admit to being increasingly partial to the region's wines.

[Houndsong]

So am I to understand that the world's foremost price setter has appeared with an important exchange or trading house to announce that a certain vintage that was underrated (did he use the passive voice? underrated by whom?) is actually better than that? I wonder who has stocks to sell of this. Anyway, even if he's not compensated for this, it doesn't look too good. It's kind of like the NYSE hosting Lloyd Blankfein to announce that shares are undervalued.

[DavidG]

Really, are we that serious about the economics of wine?

[Bacchus]

Whatever HIS faults, I've never got the sense HE is on the take. And I don't know of any credible evidence that suggests so.

[Houndsong]

That's a really poor choice of forum for any remarks like that. Talk about appearing to foment trading in wine for an outfit that profits from trading in wine directly.

[Bacchus]

True enough -- bad optics.

[JimHow]

Boy, I think we ARE that serious about the economics of wine here!
I too am sure he's not on the take. I remember the one time I exchanged emails with him, he was insistent on paying his full way to a BWE event. still, i wonder if he's compromised himself over the years. Does he pay his full way to these big Hardy Rodenstock-type tastings? If so, surely it must be costing him in the tens of thousands to drink these mid-nineteenth-century Lafites and '47 Cheval Blancs and '61 petruses, etc., etc.

[JonoB]

I doubt Bob is on the take, and for Liv-ex it is more for publicity. I don't think they took much notice of their position when asking for the interview.

They are also trade to trade, so a platform for playing pass the parcel; usually not affecting retail prices as much as Liv-ex would like!

[Houndsong]

Who said "Bob" was on the take? I'm simply riffing off all the angst, including here, about his market-moving powers, which he, apparently, has recently reluctantly acknowledged. DUH! Why does he need to go to a platform for trading wines to comment about the wine market? He has his own platforms, and people hear him loud an clear from them. This is like Bernanke going to the LME to talk about precious metals.

Jono, regardless whether Live-Ex has positions for prop trading, surely you don't think they're a nonprofit? Anything that boosts trading on their platform means money in their pockets. And this is the sort of speculative trading that all wine lovers and critics openly lament (while many of us secretly avail ourselves of from time to time).

Parker's a saint, I get it. But that doesn't mean he's infallible. I just think it's a little odd that he would let himself be used this way. Frankly, without being evil, he's also not so naive that when he goes - even on his own dime - to these big sponsored tastings that he's not just educating us consumers about what's a good wine but also facilitating the wine biz very, very greatly. His motivations, beyond obviously the principal one of (originally) starting and maintaining his enterprise, are that he also obviously enjoys it. There's nothing wrong with that at all, in fact it's laudable. But some discretion is necessary to keep up appearances too.

[JonoB]

Of course I know Liv-ex will make a buck from trading...

I am a member and becoming a member is very stringent in terms of checks:

Now, liv-ex only make money if two members have the wine to trade and come to an agreement on price. In the same way that Lloyd's of London is an insurance trading market place, liv-ex provide that service for wine.

Just because Parker made some comments to them, doesn't mean that we will necessarily see a drastic move in price unless buying members suddenly come out and double their bids on 2001s, and sellers will be savvy enough to up their asking prices on the wines they hold as they won't wish to lose out. As such it will be odd B2B sales, not a moving of markets as most people don't read the Liv-ex blog because they don't have access or aren't that interested. I read it because I am a member; wine lovers read it because they want info, but not all traders are lovers of wine and not all keep an eye on the market (although they should). If there are no members holding 01s, then there is no market there...

It is a bit comPlex to go into details, but this interview will have no bearing on price because there is NO "new vintage hype" or rescoring taking place which most of the world will have their eye on. I will let you know if I see loads of 01s being bartered to test out the theory.

[Houndsong]

Jono, I'm sorry for being so obscure. Please do tell if you see a spike in 01 trading or pricing.

[JonB]

It's been my impression that he has touted 2001 (as have many other reviewers) as being underrated for some time. Still, it is not an "investors" vintage because it was not proclaimed to be a stellar vintage, just underrated. So I doubt investors are going to jump in and drive prices up widely.

I find it interesting that RP states that early maturity is a highly desired feature (not just here, but frequently in his Bordeaux reviews) and implies it is part of his wine ratings......yet, on the other hand, his estimated dates of maturity are so far off base.

[pomilion]

Once again, questionable judgement exercised by Parker. Liv-Ex is a very poor choice of a forum to proclaim 2001 underrated/undervalued... Parker himself notes in the interview:

"I do know the impact my scores can have, particularly in Bordeaux. It’s scary sometimes; no one should have that kind of influence."

It's fine for him to mention that he thinks the 2001 is under-appreciated (he has said this before, as Jon notes), but on a trading exchange web site?

[DavidG]

Good one, Hound and Bacchus, you got us all going!

I kind of liked the interview. I don't really think it matters who RP talks to as long as his opinion doesn't change with the venue. I can see that his subscribers might be pissed if he lets certain valuable information out to non-subscribers before he makes it available to his paying customers. But the Advocate gets splattered all over the net and blogosphere within hours after it's dropped off at the post office, so the subscribers don't have much of an edge on "inside information."

No way I think Parker's on the take. I think he's become pretty circumspect about attending big tastings since the one Rodenstock one he went to, but no one's a hermit. No doubt he's been served fakes, some which he probably recognized and some which he probably didn't. And a lot of the reaction to his musings IS like people trying to read the meaning behind every musing of the Fed Chair. Sometimes it can pay off. Anyone who bought the right '09s before the last WA came out, based on his very enthusiastic comments pre-release, did well.