hammered – consume • contemplate • by thor iverson

Witness the urtext of lousy writing about natural wine.
Bruce Palling isn’t even trying.
(This is almost literally true. Be amazed at the lack of effort.)

Sex or Kevin McKenna? Choose quickly.
Of the two thunderclouds that loomed over digital newsstands yesterday, it was the former that promised all the hail, but the latter that brought the actual tempest.
(The sex thing? Read it yourself. It’s a solid and thoughtful review of a thoroughly predictable bit of paleocultural juvenilia from natural winemakers.)...

“He’s played us. Don’t you think he’s played us beautifully?”
The setting was a Paris apartment. The “us” referred to a small gathering of folks who, mostly, work in or around the alcohol and media worlds. And the “he” of debate was natural wine evangelist and (at the time) object of intense...

That the end was approaching for Robert Parker and The Wine Advocate has been clear for years. It has long been no more than a matter of time. Thus, today’s signposting of that end, which is still clouded by contradictory statements and may be...