It is going to be a gas!
Don't miss it!
If you were invited!
Exclamation point!
Robert Parker.
Robert Parker is behind the scandal for not enforcing his high standards for wine journalism on Mark Squires and Jay Miller.
I have disagreed with Parker's evaluation of many wines for many years, but have never doubted his overall integrity. He's slipping though and letting his staffers get away with murder. Junkets and government trips are quite simply money sent to journalists.
Parker should immediately call a halt to this activity and issue a public clarification. He is not running a monastery and I don't care who Jay Miller dines or vacations with, so long as Jay Miller (who is also a Doctor) pays his way. But accepting government money and junkets is beyond the stated ethics of The Wine Advocate and for good reason. Independence and critical judgement is key to good journalism, whether is is writing about wine, theatre or politics.
Parker should also get rid of, or tranquilize Mark Squires. Squires has become well know for his boorish and arrogant running of the Ebob bulletin board. This is hurting Parker's brand and reputation. Posts are censored and come and go. Further, Squires openly admits to taking government handouts as a Wine Advocate staffer.
I hope Parker resolves this quickly. He has a long track record and as the most powerful wine critic in the world, he is constantly going to be under attack by mudslingers like Dr. Vino. Mr. Parker can end it by enforcing his stated policies on the rest of his staff. Parker owns the Wine Advocate and is in charge.
What is the connection between Dr. Tyler Colman and my cousin, Dr. Barbara Hirsch, the famous Great Neck Endocrinologist?
I was just contacted by the CaptainTumorMan fact-checking department and his real name is Dr. Tyler Colman.
Note it is Colman, not Coleman.
I've notified the Wine Bloggers Conference about this late-breaking news.
I just came into possession of an e-mail sent to Dr. Tyler Coleman, the famous wine author and publisher of the web site Dr. Vino. I used to love investigative journalism and I feel like I've joined the team of Woodward/TumorMan/Bernstein. We're going to blow the lid off this growing scandal.
Mr. Coleman has been very busy exposing Robert Parker for being a hypocrite because Robert Parker's staff allegedly does things that Mr. Coleman gladly does on his own. Coleman's objection is that the staffers have violated the policies of The Wine Advocate.
The e-mail I received reads:
Dear Tyler:
I would like to pay your round trip costs to attend our tasting on Tuesday in New York. I know you don't object to free trips to taste wine but want proper conditions to taste and no pressure from the sponsors of the free trip. I promise I will leave you alone at the tasting and you will be free to sample an interesting group of producers at your own pace and with no sales pressure.
You will, of course, be free to write whatever you think about our wines and we think our wines will speak for themselves. I'd particularly like to recommend the limousine services offered by Bermuda Limousines International, which can be reached at 800 223 1383.
Unfortunately, it might be possible that the State Liquor Authority has made this type of transaction illegal. I'm not certain, but I do recall that our ex-Governor, Elliot Spitzer, was militantly against freebies and insisted that everybody pay their own way. Imagine, he considered a freebie to be an exchange of money, something like a bribe!
In that case, I will write you an IOU which you can redeem when the Spitzer rules are finally rescinded and when wine journalists in this great free nation of ours will once again be free to openly accept freebies and spiffs.
Please let me know if you want to take me up on this exciting offer.
Joe Dressner
Frankly, I'm shocked.
As far as I know, Dr. Coleman has not responded to the Mr. Dressner's invitation.
Where will this stop?
I contacted Alice Feiring tonight and offered her the same deal I am offering Dr. Vino.
Interviewed at her home, Ms. Feiring responded:
"I live five blocks away from your office. I'll walk."
We're still waiting to hear Dr. Vino's response.
I will pay famous wine writer Tyler Coleman, the author of two books and host of the drvino.com web site, his full transportation costs to our Tuesday trade tasting if he attends.
To make his tasting more relaxed, he is welcome to take a limousine from his home. Fighting traffic or taking mass transit can be such a tiring experience. I want Dr. Vino to feel comfortable when he attends our event and to feel at ease with our growers and our wines. I don't want to influence Dr. Coleman, who is free to write whatever he wants to write about our wines, but I want to maximize his experience.
According to Dr. Coleman's site, he has nothing against travel freebies. I'll gladly participate and hope to have an objective write-up on his web site in the near future.
I think it would be a beautiful conciliatory family scene.
My Cousin Barbara Hirsch, the Great Neck Endocrinologist, loves Super Tuscans and cooking workshops in Tuscany. We won't have any Super Tuscans there but we will have Silvio Messana from Montescondo with his beautiful Chianti.
My Brother, Ira Dressner, the famous Tibetan Bowl manipulator, loves sweet wines. I know he'll find his happiness somewhere in between Alessandra Bera's Moscator d'Asti and Mauro Vergano's Chinatis.
My mother is hopefully attending, so it would be just a wonderful reunion.
Maybe chemotherapy and radiation will work.
But just in case, I've started working with a healer from the subcontinent.
I'm not sure what these candle-holding ceremonies do to defeat my tumor, but they can't hurt.
Tyler Coleman is a guy with two books, a wine blog and a doctorate who is trying to make a career as a wine freelancer. He's a nice guy who even likes our wines.
His big thing is usually carbon footprint and how everyone should drink local wines packed in recyclable packaging. Lately, he's trying to make a name for himself as the Woodward/Berstein who has exposed Robert Parker for doing things Coleman does himself.
Apparently, some of The Wine Advocate's staff are admittedly taking government or trade organization sponsored trips, despite Parker's personal integrity and history of being fiercely independent. I'm not privy to all the particularly, but according to the Wine Advocate's staff members, they informed Mr. Parker who gave his approval.
Coleman is carrying on at his blog about how Parker is a hypocrite for claiming independence. But Tyler should be condemning Parker for allowing his employees to accept freebies. Parker owns the Wine Advocate and his stated principals are sound journalistic principles. I hope Parker once again enforces them, as Steve Tanzer and other people do.
But Tyler does not object to the freebies and his only objection is that Parker has not been forthright about his employees following his policies, policies that Tyler supports and practices himself. Tyler believes he has an investigative scoop because he has found that Parker's staff does what Tyler routinely does.
I think Parker's initial principals are entirely correct. I don't think only Parker follows them, but all credible journalists follow these ethical and honest principals. It is what distinguishes fluff journalism from independent journalism.
I'm not alone in this feeling. What does the New York Times call for in its ethical policies:
Paying Our Own Way
30. When we as journalists entertain news sources (including government officials) or travel to cover them, our company pays the expenses. In some business situations and in some cultures, it may be unavoidable to accept a meal or a drink paid for by a news source (for example, at an official's residence or in a company's private dining room). Whenever practical, however, we should avoid those circumstances and suggest dining where we can pay our share (or, better, meeting in a setting that does not include a meal). Routine refreshments at an event like a news conference are acceptable, but a staff member should not attend recurring breakfast or lunch meetings unless our company pays for the journalist's meals. Whether the setting is an exclusive club or a service lodge's weekly luncheon, we should pay our way.
31. Staff members may not accept free or discounted transportation and lodging except where special circumstances give little or no choice. Such special cases include certain military or scientific expeditions and other trips for which alternative arrangements would be impractical — for example, an interview aboard a corporate jet where there is no benefit other than the interview. Journalists should consult responsible newsroom managers in advance when special circumstances arise.
32. If permitted by the local newsroom policy, staff members may accept press passes or free tickets when explicitly assigned to review artistic performances or cover athletic and similar events (for example, auto shows, agricultural fairs or flower shows). But no staff member except the assigned one — not even an editor in the arts, feature or sports department — may accept free tickets. And even when paying the box office price, a journalist may not use membership on our staff to obtain scarce seats unless the performance has a clear bearing on his or her job.
There are not extreme practices, but standard practices for writers and journalists. They are the ABC of journalism.
Unfortunately, like many industries, the wine industry has developed an intertwined complex of writers, flaks, consultants, internet writers and various service providers where it has become difficult to distinguish who is on the take and who is not on the take. It is even more difficult who is on the take but trying to remain critical and who is being cynical to rake in fees, promotions and money.
Blogging, which I also do, is simply way to deliver articles to the public. There are not fact-checkers, proofreaders and enforced ethical standards. So, it is difficult to figure out who has integrity and who is a fly-by-night operation. I run two blogs that often invent stories and are often fictitious because I think it is import to satirize the Blogger as purveyor of truth. Today, for instance, I took a plane from San Francisco to New York. If I like, I can write on my blog that I sat next to a celebrity, a Californian winemaker, someone who was waterboarded in Guantanamo, or someone who went on a junker to visit Northwest winemakers with Tyler Coleman. Or I can say I sat next to my 23-year-old son.
Blogging is not reporting and not criticism. I just read a wonderful article on Waterboarding in the New York Times. No blogger is going to write such a story with the resources of a major news organization. As with wine, The Times has more access, more money and more personnel than the lonely blogger. Their report can stay free from conflict from their sources because they are on the payroll of The Times. Which makes me take a deep breath of relief that The Times still exists despite the internet.
The problem for wine freelances who mean well is the seeming collapse of independent news organization and the difficulty of making a living as a freelance wine writer. What freelancers always say is that they can't afford to live and support themselves if they don't accept money. Because lets make it clear, when you accept a free trip (like Squires or Coleman) you are accepting money.
That's a choice but not an ethical one. I know it is difficult for freelancers now but it was their choice to get in the field. I just had a very successful tasting tour of California, but I never forget how I once had a tasting in New York and two people showed up. I wanted to import a certain type of wines and fought to do so. It took a long time and I'm not rich but I make a living.
Right now, if you want to be an ethical wine reporter it is an uphill battle. But it remains a voluntary one.
Written at one in the morning, revised when I woke up on Thursday.
Particularly the bad ones with no track record and with their hands extended for free trips, handouts, bribes and meals.
I've been reading lots of commentary lately about the importance of wine critics keeping their distance from wine producers, importers and various other nefarious characters. I certainly think this is true and was shocked to learn that someone who works for Robert Parker's Wine Advocate accept government money to travel and taste in wine regions. Mark Squires who covers Israel, Portugal dry wines and Pennsylvanian viticulture freely admits to taking Isreali government money for his Wine Advocate articles on that countrie's wineries.
I've had differences with Mr. Parker wine reviews over the years because he has loved too many wines I find spoofulated and undrinkable. But the man has always been honest and stuck hard to his principles. I've questioned his taste and his contempt for people who disagree with him, but I have never doubted his honor and integrity. The man is a great talent but one I often disagree with. That's fair enough.
What shocks me about Squires is that Parker has always been clear about The Wine Advocate not accepting freebies. From Parker's book:
Two principal forces shaped my view of a wine critic's responsibilities. I was then, and remain today, significantly influenced by the independent philosophy of consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Moreover, I was marked by the indelible impression left by my law school professors, who in the post-Watergate era pounded into their students' heads a broad definition of conflict of interest. These two forces have governed the purpose and soul of my newsletter, The Wine Advocate, and of my books.
In short, the role of the critic is to render judgments that are reliable. They should be based on extensive experience and on a trained sensibility for whatever is being reviewed. In practical terms, this means the critic should be blessed with the following attributes:
Independence: It is imperative for a wine critic to pay his own way. Gratuitous hospitality in the form of airline tickets, hotel rooms, guest houses, etc., should never be accepted either abroad or in this country. What about wine samples? I purchase more than 75% of the wines I taste, and though I have never requested samples, I do not feel it is unethical to accept unsolicited samples that are shipped to my office. Many wine writers claim that these favors do not influence their opinions. Yet how many people in any profession are prepared to bite the hand that feeds them? Irrefutably, the target audience is the wine consumer, not the wine trade. While it is important to maintain a professional relationship with the trade, I believe the independent stance required of a consumer advocate often, not surprisingly, results in an adversarial relationship with the wine trade. It can be no other way. In order to pursue this independence effectively, it is imperative to keep one's distance from the trade. This may be misinterpreted as aloofness, but such independence guarantees hard-hitting, candid, and uninfluenced commentary.
I've had dealings with Mr. Parker in the past and I know this is how he operates. He owns The Wine Advocate and he establishes the editorial policies. If Squires wants the job he should be forced to live up to the ethical standards of the boss.
There has also been a lot of complaining about Jay Miller, another Wine Advocate Staff Writer, being too close to importers and having too much fun in Florida restaurants. No one is accusing him of taking money, as far as I can tell, but there is only a lot of mud-slinging going on. I don't care who Jay Miller's friends are and Parker is not running a monastery. Leave poor Jay alone unless there is proof that he has accepted money, handouts, free meals or government money!
I hope this is resolved quickly and that Mr. Parker does the right thing. Like him, I'm also sick of bloggers throwing mud at him. Dr. Vino, who started this, accepts hand outs. Today, I met a guy at our LA tasting who went on two freebies with the Doctor. So, I view his "reporting" as pure gossip and vindictive mucking-about meant to make Dr. Vino's reputation. Dr. Vino seems to be accusing Parker's staff of accepting handouts that he would gladly accept. To me, this is just a silly publicity stunt against Parker. Mr. Coleman only admitted to taking government sponsored trips during the discussion vilifying Robert Parker!
Lastly, Squires has developed a reputation for arbitrary, hostile and erratic behavior on his Bulletin Board. Mr. Parker ought to ask him to calm down. Squires was recently terribly impolite and abusive with the respected and excellent wine journalist Mike Steinberger for no apparent reason. Squires' comments were at best bullyish.
Parker and Squires always make it sound as if they are being persecuted when someone disagrees with them. Lets get real....Robert Parker remains the most powerful and influential wine personality in the world today. It is almost comical to talk about persecution.
His power does mean that people are going to snipe at him and try to call him out for hypocrisy and make startling discoveries that he is not Jesus Christ and has failings. So, I do hope Parker cleans up this mess. Lets talk about his wine judgements but not whether he dines out too often with some wine luminary (where Parker pays his way). I don't like fake scandals and Mr. Parker can clean this up quickly.
So, what is my war on wine journalists? Somehow there is an image that those of us with wine to sell are constantly trying to seduce journalists for good reviews. There is a lot of that going around and I can't say that I'm not happy to receive a good review for our vignerons.
We are delighted to get samples (we tend to have a tiny sample allocation from our producers), arrange appointments by e-mail or telephone in Europe and supply information to journalists who do their work and maintain their independence. We may get good or bad reviews, but at least we know that the reviewer was not bribed or corrupt. Most of our samples cost us money and it is an expense for us to mail out samples all the time. But we are happy to work with the handful of independent critics around who have a real track record, are not fly-by-night operations and are not writing on a whim and a payoff. We think it is imperative that bloggers, free-lancers and journalists make it clear when they have been financed by governments, trade associations, importers or producers.
But on the whole, what the critics say is secondary to our work. We import wines we like and things have gone too far for years now, as producers and importers cater their offerings to what will be reviewed well. But what's the point of being a niche importer if we don't import wines that are unique, peculiar and revelatory?
We think it is not only important that critics keep a distance from importers, but that importers keep a critical distance from the press and produce and import wine they love. Wines that are real, honest and come from the earth. In this post-Madoff era, not everything should be about making money by one Ponzi scheme or another. Wine comes from the earth and was here before Bernie Madoff and will be here after he dies in his jail cell.
I have to take my anti-convulsion medicine and go to sleep.
There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm that our full book is no going to be available in Los Angeles.
Its a great town and I enjoyed taking the Metro system to get around. They have a great rapid transit system.
I stayed in Beverly Hills and was discovered by an agent.
The people at the two tasting we did were very nice, polite and all owned automobiles.
What a town.
We're now in San Francisco where we have a terrifying schedule tomorrow.
Don't miss our trade tasting and the public tasting at Terroir.
That's right. Come meet Keven Clancy of Farm Wine Imports in Albany, California at Solano Wine Cellars. From 2 to 4 pm, Keven will be featuring a stellar range of Louis/Dressner Wines at this wonderful store specializing in small production quality wineries.
Unfortunately, I will be stuffed into an airplane returning to New York. I would love to have been able to attend this event!
The store not only has a great selection of wines but they are also cancer patient friendly.
The event costs $10.00 but $5.00 is deductible to your purchases. Mention my name and the Code "XWCKD3493" and I will personally donate $1.00 to Cancer Care for each mixed 6 pack of Louis/Dressner wines you buy.
Don't miss this event!
I'm being held prisoner in Beverly Hills!
The West Coast Wine Assault, or whatever we are calling it these days, has started.
My head is bald, my wit is sharp, I just stumbled over a chair in a café and I've been defending the ethics of Robert Parker all over the internet.
I'm ready to go!
It has gotten back to me that Cancer Care, the well-known organization, is circulating this blog. Shockingly, many of the cancer patients reading this space find my blog inspirational and courageous.
Let me make this clear -- this blog is the work of a small-minded, vindictive personality who is using the "cancer card" to pursue an agenda of hate, disgust and vitriol.
I've always wanted to use the word vitriol.
Just ask Dr. Barbara Hirsch, the famous Great Neck Endocrinology whiz, or my Brother Ira "Chakra" Dressner.
And Fuck You!
Denyse and I will soon be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. David Lillie, the famous retailer from Chambers Street, has agreed to officiate at the ceremony.
The guest list reads like a Who's Who of the wine industry.
Rumor has it that Mel Dick from Southern Wine and Spirits will be attending.
That's right, Actor Jake Webb who plays Joe Dubois, the loving husband of psychic Allison Dubois in NBC's hit drama series Medium.
I think he's a remarkably good-looking dude and I'm sick of looking like Joe Dressner, the oversized Wine Importer with cancer.
Furthermore, I would still marry Denyse Louis and not get involved with any member of the Arquette or the Davin family.
A lot of people tell you to join support groups.
It's not going to help you out.
The trick is to establish a support network before you know you have cancer. Once you have cancer, you get a lot of cheap sympathy but its too late. If you don't already have a strong network, you're fucked.
So, be nice to your real friends, your family, your loved ones and your pets and they will be there for you.
Thanks goodness, Denyse Louis is about to return to New York!
She's been away for nearly two weeks, leaving me to the loving care of my son Jules. That guy is awesome!
The flight is about to go over northernmost Canada.
Our partner, Kevin McKenna, is also on the plane!
Last night, I ordered Chicken Parmigiana from a local Albanian restaurant. After scoffing down my meal, I stood up and lost by footing and went flying. My giant right toe has a giant bruise this morning. Given that my right big toe is already gigantic, this makes for a one gigantic bruise.
18 producers of Real wine from all over Italy and France to attack LA, San Francisco and then New York!
No Ponzi Plans, No Scores, Just Farmers and their Wines.
Meet Captain Tumor Man as he Spreads Cancer from Coast to Coast!
They're already beginning to assemble. The following vignerons and vignaioli will be in America:
All the latest in Endocrinology can be found on this exciting site:
Barbara Blogs!
It is very nice for Dr. Hirsch to share links with my site, much as my brother Ira Dressner is doing these days.
Wouldn't it also be appropriate for Dr. Hirsch and Ira to link sites together?
My mother spent three weeks in the hospital and has not seen the celebrated Dr. Barbara Hirsch, the Great Neck Endocrinologist, for all that time.
Readers will recall that Dr. Hirsch wrote my parents a seven page letter 3 1/2 years ago condemning them for crimes against humanity, Hirschdom and her ego because my parents did not attend Dr. Hirsch's Thanksgiving dinner.
I have demanded a short apology and she refused to do so. My father spoke to me two days before his death about how hurt and injured he was by Barbara's absurd letter.
Barbara Hirsch, like many self-entitled suburban matrons, believes she is entitled to voice her feelings no matter what. No doubt, she saw a shrink who encouraged her to finally get our her feelings of resentment against my parents.
So, Dr. Hirsch's shrink encourages her to lash out against my parents to positively and openly deal with her decades of resentment. The important thing for healing is too get it out in the open, even if it hurts other people too old to defend themselves. Unfortunately, my parents were in their mid-80s and incapable of answering. Shortly afterward, they became ill.
I have been asking Barbara for an apology since the letter was written. I am shocked that she is so prideful that she cannot write a letter to my mother. She takes that arrogance and pride from her father's side, not the Abramson side of her mother. My Aunt Florence was lovely person who stood up for everyone in her family and adored her sister Irene and also loved me.
She would be ashamed of her daughter.
Barbara has much in common with my brother. The two of them are in a self-indulgent orgy of self-revelation and self-serving gratification. They can do whatever they like to anyone and there is no toll to pay.
The important thing is too get their feelings out in the open and then move on.
I'm on Chemo this week and have to take care of her, something I find more than stressful. It challenges my physical endurance and makes me feel ill.
Ira Dressner has opted out of seeing her or taking care of her because he is all about reducing stress. Having an ill elderly mother can be very stress-inducing.
My brother is now writing ridiculous articles about my father. He finds this very helpful in reducing his stress.
Ira Dressner Nostalgic Memories of My Father
By the way, please get a proofreader and fact checker!
Basically, the thrust of the article is that my father was an angry man who killed himself with cigarettes (although he did live to almost 89 and stopped smoking in 1964), could not control his anger, but who taught Ira to lick envelopes as parts of Ira's triumphant march to become a caricature of an entrepeneur.
As Ira will recall, he dealt with my father's death the same way he is now dealing with my mother's illness. He left everything to my mother and I and did not get involved in the period of acute illness or my father's death.
3 1/2 years later, Ira can write about my father and it is a beautiful experience for him. My mother will probably have to wait a similar period after her death for Ira's appreciative, destressful appreciations.
He's a sick guy!
Lately, I've been getting lots of sympathetic e-mail from people I don't know who admire my courageous battle with Cancer.
Fuck you all!
Please read this site a bit more carefully!
I'm tired and disoriented. I've spent a lot of time with my mother, who just got out of the hospital, and am now having strange hallucinations.
I just woke up in a sweat, after seeing the vaguely familiar guy pictured below:
Many people have written in to tell me how much they have enjoyed the stories of my Brother Ira Dressner and my cousin Barbara Hirsch.
There has been a popular demand to know more about the Dressner family and other wacky relatives I might have.
Recently, a Dressner made it into the wire services. The AP carried the following story:
MIDDLETOWN, Del. (AP) -- When 72-year-old Gladys Dressner saw two snakes in her new apartment last month, she froze. Days later, when an 8-inch snake crawled across her bed, she screamed. Finally, after stepping on a baby black rat snake, she moved. A Maryland exterminator killed six snakes that were captured in Dressner's Middletown apartment. Each was about 8 inches long and harmless. The exterminator suspects a previous tenant kept an adult snake as a pet. Dressner, who has high blood pressure, diabetes and a heart condition, wrote a letter to her property managers demanding to be moved to a new apartment. Property manager John Mastriana said she won't have to pay October's rent or moving costs.
It's hard to keep track!
The new site is called:
Energy Blueprint for Money
Ira always had a great sense of timing. With the economy in ruin because of crackpot and irresponsible money schemes, my brother is rallying the troops by offering wealth if they only send him money.
Ira's site appeals to women and explains how they often don't make enough money because they have "energy blocks." I suppose sexual discrimination is one of these "energy blocks" that women can transcend my sending my brother money. Ira will help them get over those energy blocks!
All this making money by selling a technique to other people to make money has kept my brother too busy to see my mother in the hospital. But it is all for the larger good. It is part of the Ira Dressner Bailout Plan.
A new twist on Ira's site is that it is now Customized by Distant Support Virtual Assistants (Philippines). Are there now workshops of underpaid Filipinos working to line Ira's pockets?
Don't miss this compelling site:
Ira Dressner, Entrepeneur
I was riding my bike to work, like in the old pre-cancer days, the past three nights.
It would be very nice to cycle again.
New York City is a horrible drag on foot, taxi, subway or bus.
I just read an excellent article on the Chemocare web site about dealing wtih Chemobrain. I don't think Chemobrain is an actual word, but I keep forgetting. That's one aspect of having Chemobrain or maybe Chemo brain.
The article suggests the following ways of dealing with Chemo-Brain:
I need to knock off a good 30 to 40 pounds.
Then I can sell one of our labels for 10 million dollars like all my colleagues in the trade seem to be doing these days.
I'm also considering hair implants.