Eric Asimov of the New York Times has made an interesting post in his blog following up his piece last week on Uber critic Robert Parker.

RP is a bit of a focus for me at the moment, since I'm reading Elin McCoy's biography of the big man (linked in a post below). It's a good book, primarily because the subject matter is so absorbing. The big question is, of course, is the world of fine wine better now than it was pre-RP? And the supplementary question is, how much of this change, for better or worse, is down to his influence?

It would take a book to give a comprehensive answer. I suspect that looking back on the current era in some 20 years time, we will, to employ an overused quote from Dickens, feel that this was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. Wine is better than it has ever been. But, at the same time, I think fine wine is imperiled.