This Ex-Banker Has Wall Street-Sized Ambitions as a Wine Critic

Wine is one of those rare industries in which one person’s opinion can make fortunes or break them. Credit Robert Parker. For three decades he dominated as the world’s most influential wine critic. He popularized the 100-point rating scale, and the scores in his monthly newsletter, the Wine Advocate, drove demand and prices. Prior to selling the company in 2012, Parker had planned to hand the business to his protégé, Antonio Galloni, but they couldn't reach a deal. Galloni has since built his own brand, Vinous, bought the crowdsourced ratings app Delectable, and lured away the Wine Advocate’s top critic, Neal Martin.

What sets Galloni apart from competing publications such as Wine Spectator and Decanter, or individual critics such as Jancis Robinson and James Suckling, is ambition. Not only is Vinous more prolific, thanks in part to a 2014 merger with Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar, Galloni has added interactive vineyard maps and explanatory videos, all part of the former banker’s plan to make his the definitive platform for connoisseurs and novices alike. And like Parker before him, a high rating on his own 100-point scale can turn inexpensive bottles into blockbusters. He spoke with Bloomberg Television Editor-at-Large Erik Schatzker. (Full video interview here.)