“Her comments,” He said, “are very much in keeping with her nasty swipes at all the Pavies made by Gerard Perse and mirror the comments of . . . reactionaries in Bordeaux.”

“Am I not allowed to have my own opinion?” she responded. “Only so long as it agrees with his, it would seem.”

“And,” she adds, “I would find it much worse if I thought for a minute my taste buds were lying.”

Its not every day you get to drop in on the vitriol of the worlds most influential wine critics, who in this case are arguing over a particular Bordeaux vintage that is either fantastic or mediocre. Robert Parker Junior and Jancis Robinson are trading barbs as they jockey for authority on the 2003 Chateau Pavie.

Follow the argument here.