And so it begins…the monetization of Brand Parker
Want to buy a five-pack of Bordeaux wines that Robert Parker scored 100 points? Given the proliferation of 100-point wines these days, that’s not the hardest thing to come anymore. No, the ne plus ultra now is a five-pack of RP 100s, sold as a signed set by Robert Parker!
SudOuest has the full story (picked up en anglais over at wine-searcher). Suffice it to say that the five-packs don’t include Haut Brion and Petrus. Interestingly, the negociant who put it together said that this would not have been possible before Robert Parker sold a substantial stake in the Wine Advocate late last year to Singaporean investors. The negociant didn’t reveal the details of this autographing arrangement, but said there was no commercial angle to the transaction.
No photo was available of the five-packs, so we run one of KISS, who similarly cashed in on autographed items. What will be the next in the Robert Parker line? Stemware by Christmas? After all, Suckling already beat him to that one. Maybe there will be some signed Ralph Nader memorabilia for old times’ sake.
On June 5th, 2013 at 3:05 am ,Gary York wrote:
You have got to love Bordeaux. They have no shame. And Parker,as always, is right there with them.
On June 5th, 2013 at 8:13 am ,Steve De Long wrote:
What is a non-commercial transaction?
On June 5th, 2013 at 8:22 am ,Karen Peterson wrote:
I fail to see the attraction of a RP signature on a bottle of wine which I assume he has had no hand in making. Geez – the ego of the guy…he gives it a 100 point score and has the balls to sign it! It’s like having Casey Kasem autograph the Kiss memorabilia!
On June 5th, 2013 at 9:07 am ,Quizicat wrote:
I hear Antonio Galloni is going to do his own signed releases too. He planned to do this all along.
Also available will be an autographed Jay Miller Spanish blindfold. (don’t ask)
On June 5th, 2013 at 11:12 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Steve – Yeah, not sure what that is about. The negociant was adamant in the SudOuest piece that he hadn’t received a check from them.
Karen – yeah, hard to imagine what logic it was that drove him to approve of this idea. Interesting to note what one unnamed courtier said that within a year, the new owners will monetize the brand “as they please.”
The five-pack includes a video on a USB drive in which Parker discusses his process for awarding the wines 100 points. Would be fun to see if anyone has it!
On June 5th, 2013 at 11:12 am ,Gary York wrote:
I would hope that AG would not do something like that, but who knows? Seems like down is up and up is down.
On June 5th, 2013 at 11:37 am ,Thomas Pellechia wrote:
Sometimes, blog entries seem more like gossip than anything else. Who gives a rat’s ass?
Obviously, a few of you–certainly not I.
If I were RP, and the people behind this, I’d thank you for the free advertising 😉
On second thought, people who come up with these ideas probably aren’t the type to thank other people…
On June 5th, 2013 at 12:46 pm ,Bill Haydon wrote:
I say good. I want to see more and better and gaucher schemes coming from Team Parker.
All this will accomplish (other than stuffing Parker’s pockets with Remnibi) is to further diminish any last remaining shreds of credibility that the man, his publication and his palate have in the major metropolitan markets in which I work.
In my corner of the world, this just makes Parker more of a joke and (more important) and irrelevancy.
On June 5th, 2013 at 2:24 pm ,RobinC wrote:
I think that someone should go to Cellartracker with a deal like this. I rely more on their reviews that on Parker’s.
On June 6th, 2013 at 1:44 pm ,Dan wrote:
You should probably update the post to reflect the clarification issued by WA… Parker is not signing anything, there is no percentage going to WA, etc.
On June 6th, 2013 at 3:00 pm ,Martin Cody wrote:
This is an insult to KISS. Autographed bottles by him is nothing. Now a new swimwear line, that would be something.
On June 7th, 2013 at 3:10 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Hi Dan – It still seems as if not all the details of the transactions have been divulged. Lisa Perrotti-Brown said that “We sold Bordeaux Vins Selection a pack of our new “Gift Subscription Cards†to eRobertParker.com.” Given that there are 600 of these cases, was that 600 gift subs? At $99/ea, that’s close to $60k.
Also, what about the video said to be included on a USB drive with each of the sets? Pujols told SudOuest that Parker explains in the video how he arrived at the 100/100 scores. Was that a custom video for the gift pack? If not, why not release it to let the broader public see his process for arriving at a perfect score? Suckling released such a video a couple of years ago.
On June 7th, 2013 at 3:12 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Here’s more discussion of the issue:
http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84630&sid=b50225101575f6094b5a18f6c4df27de&start=70