William Kelley, one of the world’s most influential wine critics, is now making his own wine in Burgundy—and the results are extremely impressive, says Paul Day.
William Kelley, still in his early 30s and Editor-in-Chief of The Wine Advocate, is one of the most influential wine critics globally, covering Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne inter alia. But despite such success, he has found the time and energy to make wine while maintaining his writing commitment. There is some synergy. As he has written, “Making wine has immeasurably improved my work as a critic.” Conversely, his writing has given him the opportunity to access many leading winemakers, taste their wines, and understand their approaches.
The critic-producer duality is not without risks—in particular, potential conflicts of interest. He first wrote the following disclosure in his review of the 2018 Domaine Felettig wines in The Wine Advocate, and has repeated it on each such occasion since:
“While I feel that I should disclose to readers that, beginning with the 2018 crop, I have purchased a small quantity of grapes from Felettig to produce a little Chambolle-Musigny of my own—an exercise which I am finding gives invaluable insights into the character of each new vintage in Burgundy—I believe that I have held the wines reviewed here to the same standards I apply to all the domaines I visit in the Côte d’Or. Of course, readers need only open a bottle to test that contention for themselves.”
Since that initial disclosure, the winemaking operation has
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
