Mark Squires was a lawyer in Philadelphia, class of '78, although he does not practice
much any more. He began traveling extensively in France in 1981. At the time, the
only wines he drank were things like Bolla Soave and Mouton Cadet, which he thought
was the good stuff (as opposed to favorites like Mateus Rosé). French sommeliers
were not satisfied with this state of affairs, needless to say, and insisted that
he drink their good wines with their good food. He agreed. In no time at all, hobby
turned to obsession.
Mark, formerly the forum leader on Prodigy's Wine Forum, has been teaching wine
courses for over fifteen years, and published numerous articles in various magazines
and papers, but his main output became electronic around 1995 when he began his
own website. After a few years, he added a popular Bulletin Board, which is now
housed on eRobertParker.com. His website attracted international attention, both
among readers and other media outlets. Mark sometimes gives and organize wine seminars
for local organizations and individuals, and has acted as an expert wine consultant
in a variety of matters and circumstances. He has been reviewing wines professionally
for approximately a decade, and his reviews have been cited in major publications.
In 2006, he was assigned to cover Portugual's dry wines by Robert Parker for theWine Advocate. Mark says that it is still work, but a very different type
of work. When he had the pleasure of spending a night in June, 2006 at the home
of Jorge Moreira, the highly regarded Poeira winemaker, in order to faciliate wine
visits in the Douro, the next morning, around 9:15 a.m., Jorge said, "Time to go
to work," and brought out several bottles to taste. Mark replied, "This isn't work.
The people who have to harvest wine in the Douro--THAT'S work."
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