Robert Parker has accused Mondovino director Jonathan Nossiter of ‘bigotry’ and ‘stupidity’.
Posting twice on his bulletin board yesterday, the eminent US wine critic savaged the controversial filmaker for his views on the globalisation of taste.
‘Anyone with half a chimp’s brain can see through Nossiter’s transparency easier than a JJ Prum riesling,’ said Parker. ‘It is Nossiter and his ilk (call them scary wine gestapo) chanting the same stupid hymn that demand wines be produced in one narrow style.’
Parker continued, calling Nossiter’s new book Le Goût et le Pouvoir (Taste and Power) ‘propaganda’ and labelling his 2004 film Mondovino ‘migraine-inducing’ and ‘disingenuous’.
Nossiter argues that, ‘after Kant, judgements of taste are an expression of human autonomy, symbols of moral liberty’.
‘We live in a strange time, characterised, it seems, by the collective and willing abandonment of this liberty,’ he says.
Parker, following up with a second post on the bulletin board said he was doing his part to ‘save the world from appalling stupidity…and the wine bigotry that comes from narrow-minded zealots.’
The publication of Le Goût et le Pouvoir looks set to cement Nossiter’s credentials as one of the most divisive wine commentators, with posters on decanter.com falling on both sides of the fence.
‘Mr Nossiter claims to love wine but, really, he is in love with himself,’ said one poster, calling himself Jack.
Others support Nossiter’s stance, with one New Zealand writer saying she ‘applaud[s] Jonathan Nossiter’s sentiments wholeheartedly’.
Another comment pulls Decanter itself into the row.
‘Spot on, Jonathan Nossiter,’ said Sarah Hennessy. ‘Decanter Magazine: guilty as charged.’
Written by Oliver Styles
