Doctor Jay Miller to Assume Role as Reviewer of Australian Wine for The Wine Advocate

Robert Parker Jr., used the Mark Squires Bulletin Board on eRobertParker.com to announce major additions in the staff of The Wine Advocate. Included among those additions is Dr. Jay Miller, currently Store Manager, Wine Director, & Proprietor of Bin 604, a wine shop in Baltimore, Maryland. According to Parker, Dr Miller will be "providing extensive, detailed coverage of areas he loves, and already knows exceptionally well, the Pacific Northwest, Spain, Australia, and South America, another region that has not been covered in as much detail as required by the remarkable number of high quality wines emerging from Argentina and Chile. Dr. J. will also be responsible for the fortified wines from Portugal. Given his Rabelaisian appetite, he will also be furnishing enormous contributions to our Hedonist Gazettes."

Dr. Miller has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and has worked as a child psychologist. Miller and Robert Parker have a past history. According to his bio on the Bin 604 website Miller met Parker while working part time as a wine consultant for Wells Liquors. While working at Wells, he met Robert Parker, a regular customer. Bob, impressed with Jay’s knowledge and keen tasting skills, invited Jay to work as his assistant on the Wine Advocate, Bob’s monthly wine tasting newsletter. From 1985 until 1998, in addition to practicing psychology, Jay assisted Bob with wine tasting, visits to vineyards, and editing the Wine Advocate. During his 13-year tenure with Bob Parker, Jay tasted over 65,000 wines.

Miller left The Wine Advocate and the mental health field in 1988 to work full time in the wine wholesale business. He started Bin 604 in late 2001. Just how much experience Dr. Miller has with Australian wine is hard to gauge. His wine store obviously sells Australian wine, and there are tasting notes that provide some insight into preferences.

But perhaps the most interesting news is that Dr. Miller will also review fortified wines from Portugal. Hopefully this means that he will also give more exposure to the fortified wines of Australia. In addition Parker noted that The Wine Advocate "will expand coverage by at least 30-50 percent as many areas that have been short-changed because of a lack of person-power will now receive full coverage." One hopes that this means a greater coverage of Australian wines, instead of the limited focus of the past that tended to concentrate too much on South Australia.