Pancho Campo MW – 'el circo Miller': José Penin

Pancho Campo MW, Jay Miller and some staff from The Wine Academy of Spain

Two further comments on the elmundodelvino forum that have to date elicited no response from Pancho Campo MW.

The first is from Andrés Arévalo, whose earlier very pertinent comment on this thread, remains unanswered by Pancho. The second is by José Penin, Spain's leading wine writer/critic and author of the well-known annual Penin guide to Spanish wine. Penin warns Campo that he is throwing away his reputation gained by organising the WineFuture events as well as climate and wine conferences by the 'Miller circus – el circo Miller'. Penin suggests that Campo may find it very difficult to organise a third WineFuture.

These comments show that concern about Campo's activities is rising in Spain with Miller's gatekeeper failing to deal with the questions and concerns. It is not just 'this blogger'...

Andrés Arévalo

Dear Pancho,

I take my hat off to you. You are a true businessman.

A few days ago a MasterClass in Murcia, Valencia today, tomorrow in Madrid for the Agricultural Cooperatives (I have been invited). You're lining your pockets by taking advantage of the fact that you are organising Jay Miller's agenda. And the truth is that if Jay Miller agrees, and the DOs pay and it's all legal, nobody can say anything. But you sure are making Mr. Miller sweat his shirt, even though you are supposed to be making life easier for him.

Spain is bankrupt, and the DOs are skint what with all the cut-backs - as is all of Spain, but the wineries are desperate to sell their wines ... and no one can dispute the influence of TWA in the USA.

But don't you think you're taking the piss a bit? Do you honestly think anyone would pay to listen to you giving a lecture if Jay Miller weren't there with you?

And what has been published on DO Madrid, I don't know if that is also a lie and the people of Madrid have got it all wrong like the people of Murcia at ASEVIN did, but it is you who signs off from Tuscany, pulling the strings behind the scenes, from an iPhone.

But what amazes us most, and it's here where I really take my hat off to you, Mr. Campo, is that Spanish wine journalists in Spain aren't investigating any of this. How have you achieved this? Nobody says anything. It has by all accounts taken a UK blogger and an English AP journalist to do it. Where are the Peñines, Proensa, Delgado, de la Serna (this last one has researched / published something) and other wine journalists in Spain? Rivers of ink have flowed over much lesser events than what has happened in Madrid. Pressure, saying opportunities pass, that instead of 40 I'll only charge you 20, that it wasn't in the agenda to come to Madrid until 2014 but if we can set up a Conference / Payment we can bring it all forward ... and fix the matter. Where have I ever seen this in Spain?

Has anyone investigated whether it was the same in other regions and DOs? Have others been deprived of a visit by Mr. Miller for not paying the toll to Mr. Campo?

This is the biggest scandal that has ever been witnessed in the Spanish wine industry. We do not deserve this. Anyway, I don't know why I even bother writing all this.

Regards,

Andrés Arévalo

(Comment in Spanish)

Estimado Pancho,

La verdad es que me quito el sombrero. Eres un verdadero businessman.
Hace unos dias en Murcia una MasterClass, hoy en Valencia, mañana en Madrid para las Cooperativas Agrarias (me han invitado). Te estás forrando aprovechando que le organizas la agenda a Jay Miller. Y la verdad, si Jay Miller acepta, y las DO pagan todo legal y nadie puede decir nada. Le estás haciendo a Mr. Miller sudar la camiseta, a pesar de que se supone que contaban contigo para hacerle la vida mas fácil.

España está en quiebra, y las DOs están todas tiesas con recortes de presupuesto como toda España, pero las bodegas están desesperadas por vender sus vinos... y nadie discute la influencia de TWA en USA. ¿Pero no crees que estas abusando un poco? Sinceramente crees que te pagarían a ti por dar una conferencia si no estuviera Jay Miller?

Y lo que se ha publicado sobre DO.Madrid, no se si tambien es mentira y se ha equivocado como la gente de Murcia de ASEVIN, pero eres tu el que firma desde Toscana manejando los hilos , desde un iphone.

Pero lo mas sorprendete de todo, y ahi es donde me quito el sombre Sr. Campo, es que los periodistas de España del vino no investiguen nada de esto. Cómo la has hecho? Nadie dice nada. Ha sido un Bloggero del Reino Unido y un periodista ingles de AP según parece. Donde están los Peñines, Proensas, Delgados, de la Serna (este si ha investigado/publicado algo) y otros periodistas del vino en España? Por cosas mucho menores a lo de Madrid se ha escrito rios de tinta. Presiones; diciendo que las oportunidades pasan, que de 40 te lo dejo en 20, que no estaba previsto venir a Madrid hasta el 2014 pero gracias a la Conferencia / Pago se puede adelantar... y arreglar el tema? Donde he visto esto en España?

Alguien ha investigado si ha sido igual en otras zonas y DO? Otras que se han quedado sin la visita de Mr. Miller por no pagar el peaje a el Sr. Campo?
Es el escándalo mas grande que se ha visto en la industria del vino en España. No nos lo merecemos. En fin, no se ni porque escribo todo esto.

Un saludo,

Andrés Arévalo

*

Comment by José Penin:

The matter is very clear. Parker, as any writer or journalist, charges for a non-binding presentation or a tasting as he has done in the two WineFuture events (in Rioja and in Hong Kong).

But any time that a personality wearing his journalistic cloak is invited by an institution, consortium or collective to visit an area and therefore taste their wines (for review), he must not charge a penny. It is my understanding that Jay Miller comes to accomplish this type of journalistic work and reflects it in (his tasting notes reports) in The Wine Advocate.

What seems to me outrageous is that in this (presumed) work, which is supposed to be informative and independent, that he uses an an intermediary, like one of those managers of stars who charge their clientes (for appearances), which makes one feel like he (Miller) is being served up on a plate, which is like something out of a soap opera.

Does Jay (Miller) actually charge more than his travel expenses? I don't think so. In other years Jay Miller tasted Spanish wines in his own country and did not charge for it (tasting the wines). The costs of (Miller’s) travel (to and in Spain) and for his stay in our country have nothing to do with the figure of 20,000 euros charged by the intermediary, in this case Pancho (Campo), and this logically is reprehensible because surreptiously it puts a price on the announcement "Jay (Miller) is coming to taste Spanish wines that will appear in (his reviews) in The Wine Advocate."

Pancho (Campo) wrote in this forum (elmundovino.com) that the (various) D. O.(s) contracted (Miller) for various events. Yes, but not because of the importance and and popularity of you (Pancho Campo), nor even the Jay Miller, but due to the significance of the famous newsletter (The Wine Advocate) that is directed by the true guru who is (Robert M.) Parker.

I have transmitted to Pancho that even bringing Miller to tour Spain as a favor without other pecuniary condition should have been left in the hands of someone from his team (to make arrangements). I told him that his rapidly growing reputation for accompanying Parker’s (Robert M. Parker, Jr. of The Wine Advocate) is not going to end well. Pancho (Campo) is a Master of Wine and the prestige obtained not only by the organization of the two important WineFutures events, as well as those Climate Change events, but also his educational activity of spreading (knowledge) about Spanish wines in the world, is being threatened by this “Miller circus.”

And there is Jim Budd’s long epistle.

Friend Pancho, I think it will cost you sweat and tears to put your next Wine Futures event together (because of this “circus”).

Spanish original:

Reproducimos un 'post' de José Peñín, de 3 de diciembre, que se había borrado por error.

El asunto está muy claro. Parker como cualquier escritor o periodista cobra por una conferencia, presentación o una cata ¡¡no vinculante¡¡ tal y como él ha hecho en los dos WineFuture. En el momento que el personaje se enfunde su traje de periodista invitado por una institución, consorcio o colectivo a visitar una zona y por lo tanto catar sus vinos, no debe cobrar un céntimo. Entiendo que Jay Miller viene a realizar este tipo de trabajo periodístico y reflejarlo en Wine Advocate. Lo que me parece indignante es que esta labor informativa e independiente lo instrumentalice un intermediario, al uso de los managers de las estrellas que cobran para que su cliente se siente en un plató de televisión en un programa del corazón. ¿Realmente Jay cobra más allá de sus gastos de estancia y traslados? No lo creo. En otros años Jay Miller cataba los vinos españoles en su país y no cobraba por ello. Los gastos de traslado y estancia en nuestro país nada tienen que ver con la cifra de los 20.000 euros que cobra el intermediario, en este caso Pancho, y esto es lógicamente es reprobable porque soterradamente se pone precio al anuncio “Jay viene a catar a España los vinos que aparecerán en el W. Advocate”. Dice Pancho en este foro que las D.O. le han contratado para los distintos eventos. Sí, pero no por la dimensión y popularidad de él, ni siquiera la de Jay Miller, sino por la significación del célebre boletín que dirige el verdadero gurú que es Parker.

Le he transmitido a Pancho que incluso trayendo a Miller para que recorra España como favor sin otra condición pecuniaria, lo debería haber dejado en manos de un colaborador de su equipo. Le dije que su rápida y naciente reputación por acompañar a un “segundo” de Parker no queda en buen lugar. Pancho es todo un Master of Wine y el prestigio obtenido no solo por la organización de los dos importantes eventos Wine Future, así como los del Cambio Climático, sino también por la actividad pedagógica de difundir el vino español por el mundo, los está tirando por la borda con el circo Miller. Y ahí está la larga epístola de Jim Budd.

Amigo Pancho, creo que tu próximo Wine Future te va a costar sudor y lágrimas llevarlo a cabo.

Michel Bettane: "producers who pay critics are idiotic"

Tasting notes...!!

In the light of Jumillagate/Murciagate, it is very interesting to see Michel Bettane's damning comments made at the World Wine Symposium reported in The Drinks Business:

 '“Producers who pay critics are idiotic,” he said. “They really shouldn’t be doing this. If 'critics' accept compensation for tasting wines, then I don’t believe them to be true critics. Corruption exists quite obviously in the wine world today."

Chairing the debate alongside Bettane, The Wine Advocate writer David Schildknecht said certain producers view critics like machines: “They want to find out how many points you will spit out if you insert your credit card.”'

  
Read the Drinks Business article here.


What, I wonder, does David Schildknecht, one if the key members of Team Parker, think of Jay Campo's Spanish circus?  

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Robert's silence damages the Parker team

The email (4.10.11) from Asevin that sparked Murciagate

It is now nearly three weeks since the 4th October 2011 'tariff' email from Juan Antonio Ruiz Jiménez was published on Facebook (26th October 2011) and still Robert Parker remains silent. I'm not surprised that I have had no response whatever from either Parker or Jay Miller. However, I am surprised that Parker has not made any public response. 

Parker may have decided that as he contemplates approaching retirement that his reputation is secure and in any case the fuss is all on the unreliable blogosphere. Unfortunately what Parker forgets is that he is now at the head of team and that his continued silence unfairly and unjustly damages their reputations. People start to wonder whether the Jay Campo Spanish circus is replicated elsewhere as this post 'Journaliste ou publicitaire?' 10 novembre 2011 by Marc André Gagnon indicates:

‘Payer un journaliste dans le but de bénéficier de son influence, n'est-ce pas un pot-de-vin? Est-ce que Robert Parker et les autres membres de son équipe reçoivent aussi de l'argent des producteurs ou de leurs associations? Peut-on accorder du crédit aux notes données par des personnes qui acceptent de l'argent des vendeurs de vin?’

Although I think Gagnon is wrong in suggesting that Miller is charging the wineries of Murcia for his proposed visit, the questions are asked and hang in the air unanswered. Certainly the linking of a fee paying master class to a brief visit by Miller to the region is an uncomfortably cosy arrangement, if The Wine Advocate's ethics apply to Spain.    

Parker's team includes a number of distinguished and hard working reviewers who frankly deserve better from their boss. When the story broke Parker could easily have issued a statement saying that he was looking into the Murcian 'tariff' as he takes allegations casting doubt on the independence of his reviewers very seriously. 

Instead the only public comments published have been nominally in the name of Asevin but surely written by Pancho Campo MW and The Spanish Wine Academy. It would appear that not only has Robert Parker delegated the organisation of Jay Miller's Spanish trips to a PR and marketing company (Pancho Campo MW – Institute of Masters of Wine website: collaborates with Robert Parker and The Wine Advocate organizing their visits to Spain) but has also now given  Campo responsibility to handle PR for Team Parker.