Spectator Disses Domaine Serene!

What's the world coming to? I picked up the most recent issue of The Wine Spectator and found a substantial article inside about the success of Domaine Serene.

I was glad to see the piece. Domaine Serene has been a consistent, high-quality producer for years now, and their wines have become some of my favorites. They are expensive, sure, but they are usually really, really good.

(Yes, I'm critical of those ads comparing themselves to Domaine Romanee Conti, too -- I think they are designed to mislead those who don't know better. But that's another post.)

So I was quite dismayed to see a pull quote in the article that appears to attribute to owner Grace Evenstad a statement I'm sure she would never make. Here's the quote: "We were determined to show the world what Oregon was capable of. There was no one here at the time who even had that in the back of their mind."

Egads! Say it isn't so. I immediately fired off this Letter to the Editor of the Wine Spectator:

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Dear Editor:
I read with dismay the large-type pull quote from Grace Evenstad of Domaine Serene that "We were determined to show the world what Oregon was capable of. There was no one here at the time who even had that in the back of their mind."

Grace Evenstad knows full well that there were plenty of serious people making serious wine in Oregon before the arrival of Domaine Serene. Everyone else in the industry here knows, too -- and Wine Spectator editors either know or should have known.

Thus I am puzzled why you would print what is obviously a misquote by one of the leaders of Oregon pinot noir. It does no service to the subject of your article (who is also a significant advertiser) nor to Oregon in general to mishandle such a simple journalistic task. I think you owe Grace Evenstad an apology for the error.

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We'll see if the magazine has the integrity to publish an apology. The Evenstads and Domaine Serene deserve no less.