MONKTON, MD--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2013) - The Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com, the most trusted authority in wine reviews, couldn't be more thrilled to introduce the two newest members of its world-renowned review team: Monica Larner, who will focus on Italian wine, and Luis Gutiérrez, who will take on Spain, Argentina and Chile.
"We're excited about the new team and assignments," said founder and chairman, Robert M. Parker, Jr. "Monica is one of the most comprehensive writers of Italian wines out there. Having the advantage of devoting herself full-time to this important region and living within its culture is phenomenal. And Luis is known as the foremost expert in Spanish wine today. From his home base in Spain, he'll be putting his Spanish-speaking skills to great use as he reviews wine from Spain, as well as Chile and Argentina.
Larner was most recently the first Italian editor for Wine Enthusiast, establishing and running the tasting bureau for 10 years. She utilized the 100-point scoring system, reviewed 3,000 wines per year (a total of 16,000 published reviews overall) and produced a 185-page special collector's Wine Enthusiast Wines of Italy edition showcasing her decade-long body of work. She was awarded the top prize for journalism by the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia three times -- more than any individual. Before that, Larner spent years reporting for BusinessWeek in Rome, Italy Daily of International Herald Tribune and La Repubblica before her stint as a freelance writer. She is an active member of the Ordine dei Giornalisti, a certified sommelier with the Italian Sommelier Association, and has written four guidebooks about Italy, including a photographic archive of 50,000 images. Larner is an American who has lived in Italy off and on since she was 11 years old -- attending high school in both California and Italy. She grew up in a family that celebrated everything about wine culture, developing a deep appreciation and love of wine from an early age. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University and a master's in journalism from New York University. She currently resides in Rome.
A native of Spain, Gutiérrez most recently split his time between being an IT professional for more than two decades, a Spanish correspondent for JancisRobinson.com, and a founding member of elmundovino.com, the most prestigious wine Web site published in Spanish. He received the Spanish National Gastronomy Award for journalism in 2012. In addition, Gutiérrez wrote for publications belonging to El Mundo newspapers in Spain, as well as contributed to various wine and gastronomy publications in Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. He primarily covered wines from Portugal and Douro Valley, Spain and wrote about wines from Burgundy, Rhone, Germany, Champagne and other classic European regions. He also contributed to the Spanish wine coverage in 1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die and co-authored the award-winning book, The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwest Spain (2001) in the United Kingdom, United States and Japan. He lives in Madrid with his wife and three children.
About The Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com
For more than 30 years, The Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com have been the independent consumer's guide to fine wine. Both were created by world-famous Robert M. Parker, Jr., the only critic in any field to receive the highest Presidential honor from three countries -- France, Italy and Spain. The guides provide a wealth of information to its subscribers, including a searchable database of more than 220,000 professional wine ratings and reviews, plus articles, videos, daily news content, online retail availability and pricing, and an active professionally moderated bulletin board. For more information, visit www.erobertparker.com.