Could the new frontman necessarily mean an progressively European flavour for the drinks publication? db reports.
On 1 April London-born William Kelley turned editor-in-chief of Wine Advocate, marking the initially time that a non-American editor-in-chief has headed up the publication given that it was established by Robert Parker as a e-newsletter in 1978.
Kelley will review wines for the title from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne although his predecessor Joe Czerwinski will continue to assessment wines from Napa, New York condition and Canada.
There are rumblings that the new appointment could trace at a more European concentrate shifting forward for the famously American publication.
“This information will be greeted all over France – and notably in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne – with enthusiasm,” states db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay. “There was a time when there have been fears that the Wine Advocate may well switch away from France and again to its US dwelling. All those fears are now drastically allayed. ”
Hay adds: “The Wine Advocate has remarkable capability to continue on to spot Bordeaux at the coronary heart of its evaluation.”
On the lookout at the appointment from the other side of the pond is Roger Morris, db’s US correspondent.
“I doubt that the appointment will have significantly of a ripple among the the California wine trade, as Bob Parker – who is an East Coaster, following all – started out the Advocate as a publication targeted on French wines,” he says.
“Moreover, Napa Valley winegrowers in unique are just as probable to quote their scores from other wine raters these days, this kind of as Dunnuck and Galloni, as they are critics from the Advocate.”
Oxford graduate Kelley has lived in the US and manufactured wine in California – a Chenin Blanc from Clarksburg. Formerly Deputy Editor of the publication for a small more than a few several years, Kelley has also created about Madeira and English Glowing for the Advocate and was initiated into the environment of wine when he “tasted a bottle of 1955 Château Lynch Bages at the age of 17.”
He has also been North America correspondent for Decanter.
Parker retired in 2019 and lives in northern Baltimore. Wine Advocate was obtained by Michelin in 2020.