Gerald Asher

Gerald Albert Asher (born 18 August 1932) is an English wine personality based since 1974 in San Francisco, California. Initially a wine merchant and importer, today, he is a wine writer.

Born in London and raised partly in rural Essex because of the Blitz, Asher's career in wine began in 1950, when he took a part-time job at a wine retailer in London's Shepherd Market. He founded his own merchant house, Asher, Storey, and Co, in 1955 to import rare and lesser-known French wines to Britain. Active until 1970, the firm was widely seen as ground-breaking for its introduction to the British market of several previously obscure wines that proceeded to become popular. In 1971, Asher relocated to New York to take up a senior position at Austin, Nichols, and Co, which imported Bordeaux-classed wines to the United States. The next year he also became wine editor at Gourmet magazine, a post he would hold for the next three decades, writing the "Wine Journal" column, which eventually became monthly. In 1974, he received the Mérite agricole from the French government for his contributions to French agriculture.

He moved the same year to San Francisco, where he became head of the Monterey Wine Company. He writes that he had "a topsy-turvy introduction to California wine," The new firm was regarded as ground-breaking, By December 1969, The Observer was describing the company as "famous for its list of the lesser-known wines of France: wines from the Loire, and the Jura, from Provence and from Savoy."

New York Asher wound up Asher, Storey in 1971, when he moved to New York City to become vice-president and National Wine Sales Manager at Austin, Nichols and Co, perhaps better known as the distiller of Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey, but also an American importer of Bordeaux-classed wines from France. He joined the French wine committee of the U.S. National Association of Wine Importers, and became chairman of the Champagne Importers' Association. Around this time he also became interested in California wine, which he had first encountered during his first visit to San Francisco in 1967. In 1972, he was invited by Jane Montant of Gourmet magazine to start contributing essays on a periodical basis as the journal's Wine Editor, a role he would hold for the next three decades. Two years later, he was awarded the Mérite agricole by the government of France for his contributions to French agriculture. He retained this role until 1976. He writes that he had "a topsy-turvy introduction to California wine",

Asher was vice-president of "21" Brands, a wine and spirits company within the McKesson Corporation, between 1976 and 1978. He then started the Mosswood Wine Company within the McKesson structure to import and distribute European wine across the United States. "Everybody who is anybody in the world of food and wine is invited to the annual California Vintners Barrel Tasting Dinner," Ruth Riechl wrote for the Los Angeles Times that year; "Ten years ago it was unclear whether anybody would even show up for the first dinner, held at the Four Seasons. This year the only problem was which one of the 10 people eager to fill each seat would[.]"

Following the 1985 event, described by two wine writers as "the best ever", The move was in part because of the event's popularity; so many people sought places each year that the restaurant was having to refuse tickets to some of its regular customers. The venue used in 1986, San Francisco's Stanford Court Hotel, could accommodate twice as many guests. The first barrel tasting in San Francisco was also considered a success by most who attended, with the main difference being the atmosphere, which Barbara Ensrud, a wine writer who had attended every barrel tasting so far, said was "a lot more relaxed than it ever was in New York." |quoted = 1 In 1987, McKesson sold off its wine and spirits operations so it could focus on pharmaceuticals. Aged 55, Asher took early retirement, and began to concentrate on his wine writing. His contributions to Gourmet magazine, which had evolved into a bi-monthly column called the "Wine Journal", now became monthly. Many of Asher's "Wine Journal" entries have been republished in book form as On Wine (1982), Vineyard Tales (1996), The Pleasures of Wine (2002), A Vineyard in My Glass (2011), and A Carafé of Red (2012). In 1996, he wrote the Wine Journal, published as a cellar book by HarperCollins. A number of the Gourmet columns were translated and published in the Japanese version of Playboy magazine, and in 1997 some of these were published in translation as The Secret World of Wine by Shueisha of Tokyo. Asher stopped writing for Gourmet in February 2002, but he continued to contribute a selection of wines to the monthly menu published in each issue until the magazine discontinued in November 2009. S. Irene Virbila of the Los Angeles Times gave A Carafé of Red a very positive review, describing Asher as a "wonderful prose stylist ... His wide-ranging, astute appreciation is where it's at." In a glowing review of On Wine (1982), the American chef and food writer James Beard called the book "a delight". "Reading it makes one feel that one is sitting in a room with Gerald, enjoying his personal views, his prejudices, his delightful sense of humour and his appreciation of life," Beard elaborated; "not to mention his awesome knowledge and expertise in the world of wine."

Publications

Collections of Gourmet "Wine Journal" works

Others

Notes and references