“We’re All Wine Critics Now: How the Internet has democratized drinking.&# [ Slate ]. Mike Steinberger posted a synopsis earlier today of the recent policy transgressions , changes and general tone deafness at Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. Check it out. MORE >>

SAQ, the state-owned wine entity that has a monopoly on wine retail in Quebec, paid wine critic James Suckling $24,000 last year. Suckling and SAQ had both denied any financial relationship. La Presse reports in their online edition that they obtained documents through freedom of information law. Image: PR Web. wine writing MORE >>

We started with five days of your nominations for the wine person who most personified the decade 2000-2009. Although if you read Frank Rich or Paul Krugman , you might not exactly want to epitomize this decade, the Naughties.) And in the end, after 2,842 votes were cast, the winner was clear: Eric LeVine, founder of CellarTracker.com ! MORE >>

“The Pour – This Wine Critic Can Drive People to Drink&# [ NYT ]. “You, with such a smaller part of me than you realize, we have changed the wine world.&#. That’s how Gary Vaynerchuk concluded what he said was his final wine video. He had previously announced stepping down from his position at Wine Library.) MORE >>

The researchers feel their initial hypothesis has been confirmed and conclude that the opinions of wine critics do have an impact on a wine drinker’s sense of taste. Instead he went to the trouble of overnighting a bottle of it to the critic in question. The results are not surprising, really. Siegrist et al. appet.2009.02.002. MORE >>