About us

ONE OF THE MOST AUTHORITARIVE EXPERTS ON BORDEAUX WINES
In 2015, the journal of Wine Economics defined it as follows : “Jean-Marc Quarin and Robert Parker are the most influential experts, with a 10% increase in their scores leading to about 7% higher prices. Jean-Marc Quarin, though less known, has in-depth knowledge of the Bordeaux market, a region in which he lives, and is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative experts on Bordeaux wines in France.” 45 000 Bordeaux wines are rated on his website:www.quarin.com

HIS BOOK “GUIDE QUARIN DES VINS DE BORDEAUX” WAS PUBLISHED BY EDITIONS SOLAR IN 2011

800 pages, 5500 bottles commented and rated from the vintages 1994 to 2010.The introduction gives the keys to understand Bordeaux wines and vineyards. An award-winning guide, this book was given the Nadine de Rothschild Prize in 2011 with the following comment: “On behalf of the jury, I would like to point out the extreme intelligence of the introduction. 50 pages that will definitely set a new benchmark in the history of our understanding of Bordeaux wines”. “This is a tour de force of information, opinion, and clarity; a work of scholarship, scope, sensitivity, and innovation; a major contribution to the literature of Bordeaux—a triumph, no less.” Michael Schuster in the World of Fine Wine 2012.

HE HAS DEVELOPED HIS UNIQUE TASTING METHOD « PALATE OVER NOSE »

Jean-Marc Quarin has developed a unique approach, radically different from the usual clichés about the taste of wine. He sheds a new light on the way the winegrowers of yesterday assessed their wines using their palates rather than theirs noses to rank the sensations that could help them detect quality. This expertise was lost when the tulip-shaped tasting glass was put on the market, leading everyone to comment on the nose, without really knowing what to say about the palate. “We would be better advised to pay more attention to what happens in our mouths and identify the mainly tactile sensations, which are a clear indication of the level of quality of a wine’s constitution. Perception of smell turns out to be very personal and practically impossible to communicate or transmit.”

HE CREATED THE CONCEPT OF «OUTSIDER»

« Outsiders are wines that punch above their weight…where the taste is better than the label suggests.» This rare award distinguishes the wines which stand out during their followed and repeated tastings for more than twenty years.
 

HE WAS THE FIRST CRITIC TO HIGHLIGHT THE GREATNESS OF THE 2016 VINTAGE IN BORDEAUX

A month before the start of the En primeur 2016 campaign, he wrote: “Within some days, with the official opening of the tastings, I predict a shockwave will go through the vineyards, palates, cellars, and merchants. So, reserve, reserve, reserve! Never have I tasted such grand wines, rich, noble, complex, juicy and yet unspittable in Bordeaux, apart from 1982. “ A month later, he awarded les Carmes Haut Brion 2016 a perfect score of 100 points for the first time in its history.

THE CORK, THE ULTIMATE DIMENSION OF WINE

As early as 2004, he was the first critic to stress the importance of the cork in relation to differences from one bottle of the same wine to another, and how one might begin to address the problem. “I am not talking about cork taint, which is quite clear. What I am saying is that bottles from the same original wooden case taste differently. The worst ones always show a drier finish and a lack of sweetness (harsh tannins).”

He launched the Quarin Guide’s Salon des Outsiders with Jean-Marc Quarin in Paris in November 2013.

A wine enthusiast, he began his initiation in 1995. Tastings, talks, and tours filled the next ten or so years. In 2002, after reading Jean-Marc Quarin’s column on Château Nairac in Barsac, he bought a bottle as usual to compare the critic’s comments against his own views. For the first time, he was in full agreement. He repeated the process a few weeks later upon reading another column, this one on Clos Floridène Blanc. Although he had moved away from Bordeaux wines, he fell back in love. He subscribed, completed several courses, joined the Paris club members and in 2013 decided to combine his marketing knowledge with his passion for fine wine. He had a ‘taste’ for wine and wanted to share lesser-known but no less appealing vintages with the public. He launched the Quarin Guide’s Salon des Outsiders with Jean-Marc Quarin in Paris in November 2013, Les Rencontres Jean-Marc Quarin in Lausanne in June 2016, and Les Rencontres Jean-Marc Quarin in Brussels in November 2021.

Specialist in client relations and consumer aspirations.

An aspiration is a deep desire, a powerful motivation that the consumer struggles to pinpoint but which emerges when brought before the right goods or services. When a product, brand or value can match an aspiration, it always succeeds.
The concept behind our events addresses several major aspirations that now drive consumers, such as self-esteem, quality of life, innovation or reawakening.
Taking part in Rencontres Jean-Marc Quarin means boosting consumers’ esteem, respecting them, giving them enriching firsthand experiences, using the language of emotion and breaking conventions to be in step with new ways of consuming. That is creating difference. That is being aspirational!