Another Defection from RMP

[RPCV]

Neal Martin to Vinous....Bordeaux, Burgundy, New Zealand and South Africa.

[AKR]

I guess that explains why he held on so carefully to his WineJournal notes and other body of work.

LPB has really f'd this up. He was the main reason to keep subscribing.

Although I was chewing through the Rhone notes last night, from their 'new' reviewer Joe Cz, who used to be part of our tasting group another lifetime ago.

And he has a good palate, and is handing out tough/cruel scores to fancy names.

I think my subscription runs out in May, and if NM isn't part of it, it doesn't make sense to keep it.

[Gerry M.]

The Wine Advocate, may it RIP.

Neal was all that was left that offered any value to subscribing

[DavidG]

Can’t say I’m surprised. Maybe only that it’s been such a long slow death spiral.

I gave up on them years ago. Just don’t need professional wine reviews any more.

[JimHow]

I cancelled my subscription a year or two ago when they stopped billing me manually and I would have to go on line and order something into some sort of cart.
My life seems to have been unaffected in any significant way.

[Comte Flaneur]

What is the best trade here? Add to the short modernist/spoofedup long traditionalist trade?

[AKR]

Luis G. is actually a great writer, and has thorough coverage of Rioja and other Spanish wine regions...but as much as I like the wines I don't buy much. And what I do get is probably driven more by what local retailers are offering, rather than me affirmatively hunting down his top 10 names or anything like that.

He just published another book and WA is doing some kind of book / tasting tour to promote it. I guess that is the only way to monetize this stuff now. Just take the WS approach.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Wasn't RMP the first to defect from RMP?

[DavidG]

RMP's retirement and sale of the WA is indeed what started this slide. The problem there is with management. They’ve made one customer-unfriendly faux pas after another and have demonstrated an inability to retain good writers.

[AKR]

They're like JCPenney - busy firing their first group of clients without having figured out who the next group are.

Plus I thought the WS had already locked down the "low information, high disposable income, hobnob with critics & producers niche"....

[AKR]

It also makes it clear how hard it is for a professional services provider to really be a franchise, that is salable to another party, who can only bring capital to the transaction.

Most "businesses" of that nature are really just complicated ways for one to sell specialized labor, in this case some expertise in wine tasting.

[Chateau Vin]

It also makes it clear how hard it is for a professional services provider to really be a franchise, that is salable to another party, who can only bring capital to the transaction.

Most "businesses" of that nature are really just complicated ways for one to sell specialized labor, in this case some expertise in wine tasting.

Arv, that's exactly my thinking when I first heard the news...Not to mention my skepticism when some bumblehead bought the WA few years ago....I don't know what due diligence they did, but such entities is all about human capital (more so than a consulting service) and they can go anywhere and even form their own entity and be successful....People subscribe to RMP/NM not WA.

[JimHow]

RMP's retirement and sale of the WA is indeed what started this slide. The problem there is with management. They’ve made one customer-unfriendly faux pas after another and have demonstrated an inability to retain good writers.[quote][/quote]

Seriously, I was teetering on whether to renew my subscription anyway, then they switched to requiring a non-computer-savvy dinosaur like me to renew my subscription by going on line rather than the old fashioned way of putting a check in an envelope and affixing a postage stamps. It was like they didn't want my money. They made my decision easier for me.

[AKR]

It also makes it clear how hard it is for a professional services provider to really be a franchise, that is salable to another party, who can only bring capital to the transaction.

Most "businesses" of that nature are really just complicated ways for one to sell specialized labor, in this case some expertise in wine tasting.

Arv, that's exactly my thinking when I first heard the news...Not to mention my skepticism when some bumblehead bought the WA few years ago....I don't know what due diligence they did, but such entities is all about human capital (more so than a consulting service) and they can go anywhere and even form their own entity and be successful....People subscribe to RMP/NM not WA.

And in a modern world where many people want to get reviews on their phone or what not, even the publishing aspect doesn't create a sticky contact point. Look at Taylor Swift or Ken Follet - they are selling their wares digitally and keeping the lions share for themselves - rather than sharing it with intermediaries. Their logic is that people are paying for being entertained by them, not their label nor publisher.

I need to turn off auto renew on my WA sub today. I think it runs out in the spring.

[Chateau Vin]

It also makes it clear how hard it is for a professional services provider to really be a franchise, that is salable to another party, who can only bring capital to the transaction.

Most "businesses" of that nature are really just complicated ways for one to sell specialized labor, in this case some expertise in wine tasting.

Arv, that's exactly my thinking when I first heard the news...Not to mention my skepticism when some bumblehead bought the WA few years ago....I don't know what due diligence they did, but such entities is all about human capital (more so than a consulting service) and they can go anywhere and even form their own entity and be successful....People subscribe to RMP/NM not WA.

And in a modern world where many people want to get reviews on their phone or what not, even the publishing aspect doesn't create a sticky contact point. Look at Taylor Swift or Ken Follet - they are selling their wares digitally and keeping the lions share for themselves - rather than sharing it with intermediaries. Their logic is that people are paying for being entertained by them, not their label nor publisher.

I need to turn off auto renew on my WA sub today. I think it runs out in the spring.

Amen. Turn off your auto renew and give yourself an early Christmas present...