A.G.    What is your role in these celebrations?

Mr X   The agencies I work with handle the logistics (gown, tuxedo, car, photographers, etc.), and my responsibility is mainly to find an appropriate site - generally outdoors - and prepare and read out a celebratory declaration, some ten minutes long and based on the couples' background, interests, and wishes, ending with an invitation (never declined!) to exchange kisses.

A.G.    Outdoor sites?

Someone once said when writing a book that "the title is everything".   It must be true in this instance because I found myself in possession of a little book that I can't remember buying. It must have been one of those titles that was so intriguing, I had to own it.  And, truly, the title is everything because this book lived up to all my expectations.

It's a long title for a little book, The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, and it held my complete attention over the two days it took to read it from cover to cover.  Written in 2008 by Alice Feiring, a self-proclaimed "child of the sixties" who once thought of wine as elitist, the book is about her one-woman campaign to find truly good wines - wines that had not been altered to achieve a top rating by Robert Parker.  The book caused some outrage and controversy even before it was published, and knowing that now made me even more interested!  Parker, trained in law and only becoming a wine critic in the mid '70s influenced by his wife's appreciation of wine, had become a self-proclaimed expert on wine, popular through his newsletter, and now has a worldwide following, although not everyone agrees with his opinions.  In the decades since he began writing about wine, his influence has, it seems, grown to the point, as the author points out, where vintners around the globe are adjusting, altering and manipulating their wines to make it to the top of his ratings list.

Alice Feiring is an American journalist and author, who has been the wine and travel columnist for Time magazine and is an advocate of 'natural wine'.  She has contributed to the New York Times, New York Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes Traveler and has a blog, 'The Feiring Line' , rated among America's leading wine blogs ~ named one of the seven best by Food and Wine ~ and winner of the James Beard Foundation Award.  She has been praised for her part in 'high-quality wine journalism', and in 2011 she was selected as Online Writer of the Year by the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers Award.   I tell you all of this because it is important that you know that she has a respected place in the world of wine.

My  hope when I first began reading this book was that Parker's influence hadn't taken hold in France, as French wines are definitely our favorites.  But, sadly, it seems that it has.  Alice points out that in today's global wine scene, winemakers are trying to 'standardize' their wines, making wines that are ready when they want them to be - not when nature decides.  She mentions that sellers of wine don't want customers returning to complain that their favorite wine didn't taste the same as the previous vintage they purchased. 

It is important for me to point out at this juncture that Alice Feiring never criticizes anyone, including Parker, for the sake of criticism.  She writes honestly about her evolving into someone with an extraordinary (my word, not hers) palate not only for wine but for food.  She tells it as she sees (and tastes) it, and advocates for all those vintners producing excellent wines ~ wines she hopes more people will seek out to enjoy.

Once you read this book, and follow Alice as she visits winemakers here and abroad, you can't help but be a bit depressed to know that one man's palate (and who is really to say his is the best?) can change the way generations of wine families made those superb wines.  How can his name hold so much weight?  Thankfully, there are a few holdouts who know what they are doing and have been doing for decades or even centuries won't be changed by one American wine critic.  One bright spot is France's Loire Valley, spared the Parker ratings because he doesn't happen to like wines made with Cabernet Franc grapes ~ odd because Cabernet Franc is a major player in Bordeaux wines, which he seems to adore.

The author thinks that Parker's ignoring the Loire has been its salvation.  She reminds us that the wine in the Loire is made from oganically grown grapes, unaltered, and following the fine traditions of "terroir-driven communities of natural winemakers".  Loire wines remain delicious, affordable and authentic, so next time you take a trip to your local wine merchant, be it Costco or a specialty wine shop in your neighborhood, don't let those rating numbers affect your choice of wines.  Look for the Loire reds and whites, and remember something an old friend, who was quite a wine expert himself, said to me many years ago:  Don't pay attention to the hype about certain wines and vintages.  A wine is only a good wine if you like it!