{{Short description|American wine critic (1951/1952–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} '''James Laube''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɔː|b|i}} {{Respell|LAW|bee}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.winespectator.com/video/play/id/cUsdOyYg/Wine+%234+of+2009|title=Wine #4 of 2009|accessdate=20 December 2022|archive-date=20 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220064134/https://www.winespectator.com/video/play/id/cUsdOyYg/Wine+%234+of+2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> 1951 or 1952 – March 22, 2025) was an American wine critic, writing for ''Wine Spectator'' since 1980, a full-time staff writer from 1983 on, with expertise on California wine. Laube had published the books ''California's Great Cabernets'', ''California's Great Chardonnays'', and ''California Wine'' containing nearly 700 winery profiles with chapters on California wine history, grapes, and wine styles,<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|last= Prial |first= Frank, ''The New York Times'' |title= Wine Talk |work= The New York Times |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E7D61639F930A25751C1A963958260 |date= 13 December 1995}} </ref> which won the 1996 James Beard Award for best wine book of the year. <ref>90pluswines.com [http://www.90pluswines.com/wine-experts/james-laube.aspx James Laube] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120031926/http://90pluswines.com/wine-experts/james-laube.aspx |date=20 November 2010}} </ref> James died on March 22, 2025, age the age of 73.<ref>[https://www.winespectator.com/articles/longtime-wine-spectator-napa-bureau-chief-james-laube Longtime Wine Spectator Napa Bureau Chief James Laube Dies]</ref>
==TCA taint controversy== A ''Wine Spectator'' report by Laube that Chateau Montelena wine was tainted by TCA,<ref name="ws-04">{{cite web |last=Laube |first=James, ''Wine Spectator'' |title=Chateau Montelena and TCA |url=http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,2398,00.html |date=2 November 2004 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716123726/http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,2398,00.html |archivedate=16 July 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=31 July 2008 }}</ref> was followed by a great deal of controversy, and the contention that Laube was able to detect TCA at much lower levels than most people.<ref name="SFC">{{cite news|last=Emert |first=Carol, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' |title=Montelena joins the list of tainted wineries |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/09/WIG7I8L5751.DTL |date=9 September 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131081717/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/09/WIG7I8L5751.DTL |archive-date=31 January 2012 |url-status=dead |work=The San Francisco Chronicle }}</ref><ref name="wgrph">{{cite web|last=Yarrow |first=Alder, vinography.com |title=Let a Computer Chip Do The Sniffing For You |url=http://www.vinography.com/archives/2006/02/let_a_computer_chip_do_the_sni.html |date=10 February 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717210051/http://www.vinography.com/archives/2006/02/let_a_computer_chip_do_the_sni.html |archivedate=17 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a letter to the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Steve Heimoff, an editor of a competing wine magazine ''Wine Enthusiast'', wrote that Laube's position as a critic in a prominent magazine should be more cautious about branding wines as being tainted when most wine drinkers do not have the same level of sensitivity to detect anything wrong with those wines.<ref>{{cite news|last=Heimoff |first=Steve, ''San Francisco Chronicle'': Letters to Wine |url=https://www.sfgate.com/wine/article/LETTERS-TO-WINE-2722947.php |title=Critic Laube cautioned on the power of his palate |date=23 September 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201000635/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/23/WIGK48SKIC1.DTL |archive-date=1 February 2012 |url-status=live |work=The San Francisco Chronicle }}</ref>
==Influence on California wine== As the lead reviewer of wines from California for ''Wine Spectator'', Laube's influence over the California wine industry was compared to that of the ''Wine Advocate's'' Robert M. Parker, Jr. Laube's preference for high alcohol, full-bodied wines that have been aged in oak has been charged by some critics as a possible reason for the high numbers of that style of wine being produced in California.<ref>{{cite news| last= Gray |first= W.Blake, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' |url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/15/WIGOOQ5IGD1.DTL&hw=are+ratings&sn=003&sc=330 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081029223108/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/15/WIGOOQ5IGD1.DTL&hw=are+ratings&sn=003&sc=330 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 29 October 2008 |title=Are ratings pointless? The highs - and lows - of the 100-point scale |date= 15 June 2007 |work=The San Francisco Chronicle}} </ref><ref> {{cite news|last= Darlington |first= David, ''The New York Times'' |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/magazine/07ENOLOGI.html?pagewanted=all |title= The Chemistry of a 90+ Wine |work= The New York Times |date= 7 August 2005}} </ref>
==See also== * List of wine personalities
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Authors/Author_Page/0,1173,1,00.html James Laube profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719182439/http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Authors/Author_Page/0,1173,1,00.html |date=19 July 2008}} ''Wine Spectator''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laube, James}} Category:1950s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:2025 deaths Category:American wine critics Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners