Monica Larner | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 5, 1970 (1970-11-05) (age 54) Los Angeles, California |
| Education | Boston University New York University |
| Parent | Stevan Larner |
| Website | erobertparker |
Monica Larner is a wine critic and writer based inRome. She is the Italian Reviewer forThe Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com, the bimonthly wine publication and website founded by wine critic,Robert Parker.[1] She was selected in 2013 by Parker to replace the departingAntonio Galloni.[2]
In 2003, Larner was selected to be the very first dedicatedItalian wine editor forWine Enthusiast.[2] She is also a two-time winner of theBest Young Journalist of the Year (2008, 2010), one of the top honors given out yearly at theVinItaly exposition.[3] In 2012, Larner wonBest International Journalist also presented by the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia panel at VinItaly.[4] As of 2013, Larner is the only wine journalist to have won one of these top prizes in wine journalism three times.[5]
Through her work atThe Wine Advocate, Larner's opinion on Italian wines is often cited by mainstream media publications likeForbes[6] andNewsweek.[7] She has been described byRobert Parker as "...one of the most comprehensive writers of Italian wines out there."[5]
A Los Angeles native, Larner's family moved to Rome when she was 11 years old for filming of the 1983World War II television mini-seriesThe Winds of War on which her father,Stevan Larner, worked as thedirector of photography.
After high school in both Italy and California, Larner earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism (an MA with a minor in Italian studies) fromBoston University andNew York University respectively.
Larner began her career working for the Italian dailyLa Repubblica, followed by four years as a reporter in the Rome bureau ofBusinessWeek (her bylines include an in-depth look at theAntinori wine dynasty).[8] She spent two years as a staff writer covering news and Italian wine for Italy Daily, a joint venture with theInternational Herald Tribune andCorriere della Sera that has since folded.[9][10]
The next phase of her career was characterized by intense travel for four guidebooks she authored includingLiving, Studying and Working in Italy andIn Love in Italy.[11][12]
In 1997, Larner's father retired and her parents purchased a 134-acre ranch in Ballard Canyon,Santa Barbara, California. Monica helped to establish thevineyard; selectingclones, setting cordons and pruning vines. Stevan Larner died in a vineyard accident in 2005.[13] Today, Monica's enologist brother Michael manages the family wine venture.[14]
In 2003, Larner was approached byWine Enthusiast to be the magazine's first Italy-based correspondent and was formally trained to use the 100-point scoring system by Managing Editor Joe Czerwinski. She was among the first American wine writers to bring attention to Italian indigenous grapes and up-and-coming wine regions such asSicily'sMount Etna.[15][16][17] Over the course of the next ten years, her tasting responsibilities grew to 3,000 wines per year (totaling 16,000 published reviews overall) and she was named the magazine's Italian Editor.[1] Before leaving Wine Enthusiast, she published a 185-page special collector's edition dedicated to the wines of Italy.[18]
In 2013, she joined The Wine Advocate team as the Italian reviewer.[1] One of Larner's first changes at the publication was the addition of new regions to The Wine Advocate's "Vintage Chart" that lists the world's most cellar-worthy wines. In addition toBarbaresco,Barolo,Bolgheri,Brunello di Montalcino andChianti Classico, Larner addedEtna,Friuli,Taurasi,Trentino-Alto Adige andValpolicella to the chart. In August 2013, Larner sparked controversy for refusing to taste the wines of an Italian producer who had used racial slurs against Italy's first African-Italian MinisterCécile Kyenge.[19][20]
Larner is an active member of the Ordine dei Giornalisti and of Italy's Foreign Press Association community. She is a certified sommelier with the Italian Sommelier Association.
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