Pancho Campo's MW certificate

With Christmas fast approaching now is a good time to take stock of how things stand with Campogate and Pancho, or as Robert Parker calls him, Poncho Campo MW.

When WineFutureHK 11 closed on 8th November, Campo can surely not have imagined that less than six weeks after bringing the majority of the great and good of the wine world to Hong Kong that the Institute of Masters of Wine would announce on 16th December an investigation into his conduct. An investigation that might see him stripped of his prized MW status.

Almost as, or equally, damaging for Poncho is the apparent loss of the support of Jancis Robinson MW as this twitter exchange suggests.

Of course the pay for access scandal had broken well before the start of WFHK. Vincent Pousson lit the touch paper on Wednesday 26th October with the publication of the first Murcian email (4th October 2011) and Jacques Berthomeau, one of the founders of Les 5 du Vin, picked up the fuse with a column on his blog the following Saturday.

I was fortunate in having journalist Harold Heckle based in Madrid. Harold and I had worked together when Campo appeared on Interpol’s wanted list in 2009.  We were soon able to get more emails relating to the proposed visit to Murcia by Jay Miller and start to see an evident pattern emerging.

However, it wasn’t until 29th November when we were able to get the smokin’ gun email sent by Campo himself on 3rd June offering Miller at a cut price to DO Vinos de Madrid that the story got real attention.

Back to my original question where does this leave Campo? Well he already knew that he would be losing his meal ticket with Miller retiring at the end of this year. Campo must have hoped that he could organize future visits with other journalists to Spanish regions. Will many now be prepared to accept an invitation from Campo?

Equally a third WineFuture looks unlikely though Campo is nothing if not resilient and has bounced back after previous disasters.

I didn’t expect to be on Poncho’s Christmas card list but I don’t appear to be on that of Luis, the family lawyer based in Barcelona, either. Despite various threats delivered through third parties no sign even of a legal letter.

Certainly the most bizarre of Campo’s legal gambits was his suggestion that the Circle of Wine Writers could be sued by association! I’m waiting for Campo to extend this new legal ploy to people who live in my block of flats, the same street or even briefly associated while we shared a 185 bus on the way to Forest Hill (London).

Pancho Campo MW and Jay Miller

What then of Jay Miller? Although Robert Parker has given his long-term associate his backing, Miller still has yet to answer questions about the cosy mix of official visits that incorporated a freelance element that allowed him to be given substantial speaking fees. It must be highly unlikely that he would have been paid fees of between $8000 to $15,000 for giving master classes to local audiences if he hadn’t also been there to taste and rate wines for The Wine Advocate.

 Then Robert Parker. Although this investigation has never been intended to be an attack on him and the Wine Advocate, his handling of this affair has been less than adept. Most notable was his insistence on continuing with his announcement of Miller’s retirement on 5th December despite a rising tide of criticism. Unfortunately for Miller, Parker’s cack-handed announcement made it look as though Miller had been sacked when actually it would seem that the retirement had been planned for some time. 

There are those who say that Campo has done nothing wrong. Instead shown ‘entrepreneurial flair and skill’ so often lacking in the wine industry. I suppose that is one way of describing demanding pay for access. Hardly new – in the 1950s it was called payola.

One intriguing new development has been the revelation that CavesMaître FRANCE, one of the major sponsors of WineFutureHK, has purloined the trademark of Groupe Castel in China. A number of years ago CavesMaître and his boss Daniel Li registered the name Castel and recently sued Groupe Castel for breaching their trademark in China. The same company also registered Rioja a few years back but has now handed this back to Rioja.  

Robert Parker – flanked by Daniel Li (CavesMaître) and Pancho Campo MW + the CavesMaître logo

Robert Parker gave his impressive presentation of his Bordeaux magical 20 with a large CavesMaître, FRANCE logo behind him.

Rather ironic that he was praising and extolling Bordeaux in front of the logo of a company that has 'stolen' the trademark of Bordeaux's largest company. I can’t imagine Parker knew the background to this sponsor but did Campo, the organizer of WineFutureHK? After all he sells himself as an expert of the Chinese market to impoverished Spanish wine regions…         

Daniel Li, Robert Parker and Pancho Campo MW

You also have to wonder why none of the assembled journalists picked up on CavesMaître, FRANCE?