 With Parker, perhaps the most influential wine critic, announcing in December of his taking three new investors from Singapore and stepping down as editor-in-chief of the Wine Advocate, the exit was perhaps expected. But, with Parker also announcing Singapore-based Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW as the new editor, an early exit seemed inevitable. Galloni had been seen as Parker's successor till the unexpected announcement.
He has announced the launch of his new web venture antoniogalloni.com. Reportedly, the new platform will be aimed at younger wine consumers, using new technologies and different forms of media than the Wine Advocate which still retains the flavour of print media, according to the report in LA Times which quotes Galloni as saying, "I want to use multimedia to bring those wines off the page directly to an audience. I think there's a huge opportunity to engage people through media and technology."
Galloni claims to have written a third of the Reviews published by The Wine Advocate in 2012. Galloni, of Italian descent, who speaks fluent Italian, also ran the world’s most-followed bulletin board on Italian wines and spearheaded The Wine Advocate's production of video content, according to the report. This was besides developing several well sought after seminars like 'La Festa del Barolo,' and several vertical tastings focused on the benchmark wines of Italy.
Galloni has indicated that he is looking for more investors but will be launching the new site antoniogalloni.com next month. He will continue to focus on his current areas of review - Champagne, Burgundy, Italy and California. In a statement, he indicated his desire to return to his entrepreneurial roots that began with his Piedmont Report in 2004. He has also said that the 2500 Reviews and hundreds of articles he has written during the last 10 years will be available at the new website for his subscribers.
During the World Wine Symposium in November 2012 at Villa d’Este, where he was one of the two panelists discussing on the merits and demerits of Blind Tastings of Wines, he had given no indication of any change and was a rock solid supporter of Wine Advocate. But then, Robert Parker had given no indications to the wine world that he would be selling off a majority of his share and shifting the office of TWC to Singapore either.
For an earlier similar report, visit Parker Poised to Peter Out of Wine Advocate
Subhash Arora
Tags: Wine Advocate, La Festa del Barolo, Piedmont Report, World Wine Symposium |