A bright light of the wine world

Last week’s Symposium for Professional Wine Writers was fabulous, edifying and entertaining, with the most esprit I’ve encountered in my four symposiums. Perhaps the most spirited presentation came from novelist/wine scribe Jy McInerny, who was interviewed in fine fashion by Ted Loos. Among the highlights:

• “Anyone who made his living by writing about destroying his nasal passages might not be the best judge of wine. [a reference to his debut novel/cash cow, ‘Bright Lights, Big City’]”

• On what he loves about wine writing: “There are not a lot of boring, anal-retentive people in the wine world.”

• Recommended reading: A.J. Liebling, especially “Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris”; anything by Gerald Asher; Auberon Waugh’s “Waugh on Wine.”

• “It’s important to remember that wine should be part of the well-lived life.”

• On meshing tasting notes and pop culture: “Sometimes I want to know, is this wine more ‘Jules & Jim’ or is it ‘Star Wars’? … My editor once told me, ‘you can’t compare another California chardonnay to Pamela Anderson or another Chablis to Kate Moss.’ ”

• “Anselme Selosse [left] is the most influential winemaker in Champagne.”

• “This is the greatest time in the world to be a wine drinker. We can argue between Harlan and Corison [cabernets], but they’re both there.”

• “[Robert] Parker gave us the key to an incredibly arcane, complex world.”

• On Parker’s advice for wine writers the day before: “I’m not making videos for Asians. Fuck ’em. They’re buying all the good wine.”