One of the most respected wine critics in the world, a man capable of revolutionizing the global wine market and molding it his way, a man who has secured his own nose for a million dollars, Robert Parker was loved and hated . After several speculations about his retirement, this fact materialized in this last Thursday (day 05/05/19). He leaves his post, but his mark remains.
His career began officially in 1978, with the launch of his first independent wine review magazine, The Wine Advocate. One of the reasons that led to the creation of the magazine was the perception that there were no books and magazines aimed at the final consumer at the time. These contents related to the history of the wineries, mapped the producing regions, but did not address the quality and characteristics of the products. In order to offer a practical and accessible approach, Robert Parker has created a wine rating system.
This system classifies the general quality of the wine into 6 categories, from 50 points, as in the following notes:
- 96 to 100: extraordinary wine;
- 90 to 95: remarkable;
- 80 to 89: above average to excellent;
- 70 to 79: medium;
- 60 to 69: below average;
- 50-59: terrible.
A perfect 100 from Robert Parker could mean an almost 70% increase in the price of a bottle of wine. This is what the Wine Searcher site shows, a few months after a wine has received the score. This shows how influencial he was for the wine industry
Despite his numerous contributions, Robert Parker has been criticized for letting his personal preferences influence his quality ratings. This led some sort of Parker dictatorship, in which only one type of wine profile could reach the highest scores. High notes RP often meant that the wine would have a lot of oak aging, with high alcohol level, well concentrated and with low acidity.
