James Laube
James Laube (/ˈlɔːbi/ LAW-bee,[1] 1951 or 1952 – March 22, 2025) was an American wine critic, writing for Wine Spectator since 1980, a full-time staff writer from 1983 on, with expertise on California wine. Laube had published the books California's Great Cabernets, California's Great Chardonnays, and California Wine containing nearly 700 winery profiles with chapters on California wine history, grapes, and wine styles,[2] which won the 1996 James Beard Award for best wine book of the year. [3] James died on March 22, 2025, age the age of 73.[4]
TCA taint controversy
[edit]A Wine Spectator report by Laube that Chateau Montelena wine was tainted by TCA,[5] was followed by a great deal of controversy, and the contention that Laube was able to detect TCA at much lower levels than most people.[6][7] In a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Heimoff, an editor of a competing wine magazine Wine Enthusiast, wrote that Laube's position as a critic in a prominent magazine should be more cautious about branding wines as being tainted when most wine drinkers do not have the same level of sensitivity to detect anything wrong with those wines.[8]
Influence on California wine
[edit]As the lead reviewer of wines from California for Wine Spectator, Laube's influence over the California wine industry was compared to that of the Wine Advocate's Robert M. Parker, Jr. Laube's preference for high alcohol, full-bodied wines that have been aged in oak has been charged by some critics as a possible reason for the high numbers of that style of wine being produced in California.[9][10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Wine #4 of 2009". Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
- ^ Prial, Frank, The New York Times (13 December 1995). "Wine Talk". The New York Times.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ 90pluswines.com James Laube Archived 20 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Longtime Wine Spectator Napa Bureau Chief James Laube Dies
- ^ Laube, James, Wine Spectator (2 November 2004). "Chateau Montelena and TCA". Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Emert, Carol, San Francisco Chronicle (9 September 2004). "Montelena joins the list of tainted wineries". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 31 January 2012.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Yarrow, Alder, vinography.com (10 February 2006). "Let a Computer Chip Do The Sniffing For You". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Heimoff, Steve, San Francisco Chronicle: Letters to Wine (23 September 2004). "Critic Laube cautioned on the power of his palate". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Gray, W.Blake, San Francisco Chronicle (15 June 2007). "Are ratings pointless? The highs - and lows - of the 100-point scale". The San Francisco Chronicle.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Darlington, David, The New York Times (7 August 2005). "The Chemistry of a 90+ Wine". The New York Times.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
[edit]- James Laube profile Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Wine Spectator