The Wine Critic's Critic: John Livingstone-Learmonth: The wine industry’s Cricket captain. 83/100 points.

'JLL's site is the antithesis of James Suckling’s and Jancis Robinson's sites in terms of slickness, structure and functionality, but it just oozes class, passion, personality and knowledge. Unlike burghound.com, this is a site dripping with love and soul, not legal and commercial mumbo-jumbo'.

The quintessential Englishman, he is dapper, erudite, affable and quick-witted, like Colin Cowdrey, the former England Cricket batsman. JLL is the master of his specialist area, the wines of the Northern and Southern Rhone, whilst also practising as a communication training expert.

Like Cowdrey, he has amazing longevity. He has been batting at the crease in the Rhone valley for over 40 years and his mastery of its characters, nuances and old wines is unrivalled. He was learning about this area nearly a decade before Parker discovered it. Key players in the region such as Christine Vernay and her husband Paul Anseleme venerate him for his vast knowledge going back to the days when he would wine and dine with Christine’s father, Georges Vernay.

His site is the antithesis of James Suckling’s and Jancis’ sites in terms of slickness, structure and functionality, but despite its clunkiness (although I notice that JLL has just upgraded his site), it just oozes class, passion, personality and knowledge. Like Meadow’s site, burghound.com, this is a stellar example of the online specialist communicator. But unlike burghound.com, this is a site dripping with love and soul, not legal and commercial mumbo-jumbo.

I admit that I am a Rhone fanatic so have a soft spot for this site. It is full of information gathered over 40 years and John allows you to access it in many ways. You have regular monthly updates on what has been happening in the region and extensive tasting notes and information about each appellation in the North and South Rhone, from the well known to small artisan wine growers. It also has a glossary of terms.

I love his features of ‘Goings on’, ‘Veterans corner’ and ‘Where to eat and stay’. He also makes a big play on WOW wines (‘what one wants’ – or wines which immediately declare pleasure) and STGT (soil to glass transfer - wines that are very low on intervention, that reflect truthfully their place of origin). He gets excited about these wines, the grower being undoubtedly aware of the importance of terroir, and of his or her role in coaxing that out. Coverage of up and coming areas – Rasteau, Roaix, Cairanne….

There is also a quality of fun and joie de vivre about John who is a horse lover and keen gambler. He loves these wines, their people and region and that shines through in his oeuvre.

I think it is a site for the trade or expert consumer because his notes are quite technical and he focuses on depth of content in his specialist area.

I drink a lot of the wines which feature on his site and I think he has an exquisite palate. He has an eloquent, descriptive and old fashioned style of writing. Take Clusel Roch’s Les Grandes Places from 2009 which he gives top marks to:

“(cask) dark red, black at the centre. Good ensemble on a substantial bouquet – baked fruits, a hint of dates from ripe, not overdone fruit. There are wafts of smoke in what is a full, but lucid nose – a mark of its quality. This is very well-constituted, has real good togetherness of its elements, a sealed-up quality. It builds as it goes, has finesse and strokeable black fruit that culminates in a licorice and an oak sprinkle. The tannins are fresh, live. Has the reserve of the northern zone, but ripe and good quality fruit wins the day. This can become complex, has pure qualities, is STGT. I just prefer the Viallière 2009. 2026-29. Bottling Aug 2011. Nov 2010”.

Here are my scores for John and drinkrhone.com:

Read on:  The Wine Critic's Critic: Jamie Goode: The Wine Industry's Anorak and Head Teacher.

The Wine Critic's Critic part 1. Want to know who the world's best wine critics are? Then read on...

They are an eclectic mix of the clever, entertaining, interesting and boring. Read my 'Wine Critic's Critic' series of articles to find out more.

I love the idea of critiquing the wine critics and quantifying them at their own game. I have reviewed 10 of the world’s most formidable against a range of criteria and scored them using my ‘100 point’ scale. How will they take it? Will I be excommunicated from their world of wine, hoist by my own pétard?

Eloi Dürrbach of Domaine de Trevallon, one of France’s great pioneering wine makers, visionary and Picasso’s godson no less, inadvertently gave me the idea. “The problem is sometimes I don’t understand what wine critics say. They use obscure words and phrases when describing wine which most people can’t comprehend”. These are Eloi’s words when I visited him and his daughter, Ostiane, in July this year. The irony of course is that critics are meant to educate, inform and entertain consumers, not confuse them.

As I drove away from his beautiful Trevallon through the limestone hills and sun baked landscape of Les Alpilles in Provence, I thought about Eloi’s comments and how perverse it is that one of the great pioneers of French wine can’t, sometimes, understand what the critics write.

I wonder whether this is generally the case. Are all critics guilty or just some of them, some of the time? What is the problem? Incomprehensible words, over complication of language, illusory aromas and flavours or do they just write plain twaddle? Does this really make tasting notes ‘pernicious’, as Eric Asimov asserts? Or do they serve a useful purpose? These are just some of the questions I address in my postings over the next couple of weeks.

My questions come into even sharper focus as I travel down to see Alain Vaillé of the fabled La Grange des Peres in Aniane. If you have ever met Alain, or his son Laurent who is the real wine making genius down there, then you will appreciate the juxtaposition of the simple artisan wine maker, nurturing his vineyards and performing alchemy, and the urbane critic, dissecting, fault finding and describing his wines, often in a sterile city location. If Eloi struggles to understand the critics at times then Alain has no chance.

Like Eloi and Alain, all the growers I meet are of their type. The list reads like a role call for the Wine Oscars; these are truly some of the great growers of France -– Etienne Grivot, Thierry Brouin (Burgundy), Vincent Avril, Marc Perrin, (Chateauneuf du Pape), Jean-Louis Chave, Michel Chapoutier (Hermitage), Stephane Robert, Thierry Allemand (Cornas), Jean- Michel Gérin, Stephane Ogier (Cote Rotie), Marcel Richard, Jerome Bressy (Cote du Rhone Villages) …. Some may be better educated than others, but at heart they men of the soil, artisans practising their trade simply to give enjoyment to consumers; they are not looking to mystify wine and make it harder to appreciate. When I see them, I must ask them whether they feel the same about the critics’ language as Eloi.

There seems to be a gap in understanding between those who ‘do’ and those who ‘teach’. I acknowledge that the growers are on the producer side rather than consumer side, with the critics obviously targeting the latter, but don’t be fooled; the producers are just like the spectrum of people for whom the critics are writing. If notes are incomprehensible for one group, they will be for the other. Furthermore, all these consumer groups meld into one: the novice, the enthusiast, the expert and the trade. We all drink wine.

Eric Asimov in his recent book ‘How to love wine’, writes in passionate terms about the ‘tyranny of the tasting note’, which exaggerate aromas and flavours. He actually goes as far to say that tasting notes are, at best, a waste of time and, at worst, pernicious. Eric is perhaps exaggerating too but I do understand the basis for his sentiment.

My conclusions are not meant to be definitive but they will provide the consumer with a guide on the quality of each critic and which ones best suit their requirements.

The 10 critics and critics

I have selected who, in my mind, are the 10 most formidable critics in the world of wine. Not everyone will agree with this list (it is my list so influenced by who I read and rate, and where I live, namely the UK) and I will add others to it over time. Here are the 10 in alphabetical order:

1.     Tim Atkin

2.     Jamie Goode

3.     Andrew Jefford and Decanter

4.     John Livingstone-Learmonth

5.     Allen Meadows

6.     James Molesworth and Wine Spectator

7.     Robert Parker

8.     Jancis Robinson

9.     James Suckling

10.  Stephen Tanzer

You will see that for the 2 main print publications of Decanter and Wine Spectator, I have also selected one of their key writers who has a high profile in the market. Here are the key facts for the 10 critics:

Name Web site Twitter Type of site	Commercial model of site	Annual subscription cost, if applicable (as of Nov 2013)	No of subscribers/Twitter followers (as of Nov 2013)	Target audience
Andrew Jefford/Decanter Decanter.com andrewjefford.com @Decanter @andrewcjefford Decanter is a comprehensive subscriber based web site, not focused on any particular country or region. Andrew is a key contributor	Subscriber and advertising	Normally £121 pa for print and digital. Currently offer price of c£75 pa	>17,500 subscribers for Decanter. 57000 twitter followers. Andrew has 3000 Twitter followers.	Expert and enthusiastic amateurs
Burghound (Allen Meadows) burghound.com @burghound Comprehensive subscriber based web site specialising in burgundy but now widening out to cover other Pinot Noir growing areas such as Californi and Oregon	Subscriber only	$145 pa for full access to database and 4 electronic quarterly issues	7500+ subscribers to burghound.com in 2010 (according to slate.com). 11,000 Twitter followers	Trade and expert amateur
James Molesworth/Wine Spectator winespectator.com @jmolesworth1 @WineSpectator Comprehensive subscriber based web site, not focused on any particular country or region. James is a senior editor	Subscriber and advertising	$75 pa for magazine and web site. c$50 for web site only.	350,000+ subscribers to WS (according to goodgrape.com), WS has 110,000 twitter followers. James has 13,500 Twitter followers	Trade, expert and enthusiastic amateur
James Suckling jamessuckling.com @JamesSuckling Video based web site specialising in cigars and wines from Italy and  Bordeaux although he is widening this out	Subscriber and advertising	$144 pa. Web site only - no print available	Unknown no of subscribers to James.suckling.com. 23,000 Twitter followers	Expert and enthusiastic amateurs
Jamie Goode wineanorak.com @jamiegoode Comprehensive free web site with features, wine controversies, wine travel advice and a special section for those new to wine	Advertising	Free	Unknown no of regular viewers to jamiegoode.com. But it gets a lot of hits - as many as Decanter.com. 20,500 Twitter followers	Trade, expert and enthusiastic amateur
Jancis Robinson jancisrobinson.com @JancisRobinson Comprehensive subscriber based web site, not focused on any particular country or region. Jancis is the leader but has a strong team supporting her	Subscriber only	£69 pa. Web site only - no print available	Unknown no of subscribers to jancisrobinson.com. 198,000 Twitter followers	Trade, expert and enthusiastic amateur
John Livingstone Learmonth drinkrhone.com @DrinkRhone Comprehensive subscriber based web site specialising in northern and southern Rhone	Subscriber only	£40 pa. Web site only - no print available	Unknown no of subscribers to drinkrhone.com. JLL doesn't use twitter much - 40 Twitter followers	Trade and expert amateur
Stephen Tanzer http://www.wineaccess.com/expert/tanzer/index.html @StephenTanzer1 Comprehensive subscriber based web site, not focused on any particular country or region. Stephen is the leader but has a  team supporting him	Subscriber only	$90 pa. 6 bi monthly issues by the web plus 12 months on line access to IWC archives and forum	Unknown no of subscribers to his site. 1600 Twitter followers	Trade and expert amateur
Robert Parker erobertparker.com @RobertMParkerJr Comprehensive subscriber based web site, not focused on any particular country or region. Stephen is the leader but has a  team supporting him	Subscriber only	$99 pa. Web site only - no print available	65,000+ subscribers to erobertparker.com. 54,000 Twitter followers	Trade, expert and enthusiastic amateur
Tim Atkin timatkin.com @timatkin Comprehensive free (generally) web site with features, reports and tastings. Tim charges for specific tasting reports	Advertising and individual payment for reports	Free. Certain reports can be purchased for £10-20	Unknown no of subscribers to timatkin.com. 28,000 Twitter followers	Expert and enthusiastic amateurs

This is just a small sample of the world’s critics. There are plenty of other critics and writers who could have been included.

Read on: The Wine Critic's Critic part 2