Blame it on Rioja

At a time when the line between press and promotion has blurred (Hi, my name is Adrian, and I have been a paid spokesperson for three years…), it’s refreshing, if sometimes maddening, that some media institutions maintain strict ethics guidelines that keep their trip-planning reporters from accepting any kind of assistance or favor from anyone associated with a promotional trade bureau.

The New York Times is of course one such institution, and in the case of the paper’s wine critic, Eric Asimov, it’s maddening because, as a fan of his writing and a fair notion of both his palate and extra-vinous interests, I bet I could hook him up with the right people and the right places to go (and demonstrate that my mind is as open as my passion for—and deep knowledge of—Spain’s food and wine culture is unassailable ).

And it’s refreshing because, well, this is obvious: because you can believe in what he writes. Kind of like a mentor who rarely praises: when he does praise, you know he means it.

Asimov, who returns Monday from a 10-day trip to Galicia and Rioja, has made no bones about his passion for Rioja. As far as I can recollect, I think he’s devoted at least two columns and about five or six blog posts to the region and its wines, and has even once declared, “I am a Rioja partisan.”

Which is why I for one am stoked to see what’s in store on his blog/in his column next week.

PHOTO: Eric Asimov at a Rioja trade tasting earlier this year (Credit: Donald Bowers)