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Robert M. Parker, Jr., one of the most influential experts in the wine world,
was born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, on July 23, 1947. He enjoyed a diverse
education at the Univerity of Maryland, where he graduated with honors, majoring in History.
He then attended the University of Maryland law school until 1973, after which he began
a 10 1/2 year long career as an attorney. He eventually became an Assistant General Councelman
for the Farm Credit Banks of Baltimore, a job he gave up on March 1984 to, you guessed it,
focus on wine writing.
His interest in wine began when he spent his Christmas vacation in Alsace, France. He initially went there to visit a girlfriend (now his wife for over 27 years) at the University of Strasbourg.
Completely opposing his family and friends, who felt wine writing was an unprofitable profession, Robert persued his passion for wine writing. By 1978, his wine publication was finally created, dubbed "The Wine Advocate". A complimentary issue was sent out to mailing lists he acquired from several major wine retailers, leading to around 600 subscribers by August, 1978.
Today, The bi-monthly Wine Advocate has over 50.000 subscribers from all over the world. Experts agree that The Wine Advocate has a significant impact on wine consumer’s purchasing habits, including but not limited to the United States.
In addition to his work at the Wine Advocate, he is also a contributing editor for "Food and Wine Magazine", "Business Week" and periodically for the magazine “The Field”. On top of that, he was the only non-French wine critic for France’s L’Express magazine.
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Books |
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 In November,
1985 his first book Bordeaux was published by Simon and Schuster. Bordeaux went
into six printings, was a selection of the Book of the Month Club, and received
international critical acclaim. An English edition of Bordeaux was published by
the London firm of Dorling, Kindersely, Ltd. It won the prestigious Glenfiddich
Award as England's top wine book of 1986. The Paris-based firm of Presses de la
Cité published Bordeaux in France in 1989, where the book promptly was reprinted
three times. Moreover, France's Book of the Month Club, the largest in the world,
made Bordeaux its "selection of the month" in January, 1991. Foreign language editions
of Bordeaux have been published in Japan, Germany, and Sweden.
 In 1987,
Simon and Schuster published two more wine books by Mr. Parker, Parker's Wine Buyer's
Guide and The Wines of the Rhône Valley and Provence. The latter book won the Tastemaker's
Award in 1989 as the top wine book of the year published in America and The Wine
Guild's Wine Book of the Year Award in The United Kingdom. In 1995, Parker published
the fourth edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, a book that received huge commericial
and critical success. It was republished in England and France, where it is called
The Guide Parker. In 1997, his ninth book, The Wines of the Rhone Valley, was publised
in both English and French. In 1998, his tenth book, the 3rd edition of Bordeaux,
was published in Germany, England, France, Japan and, of course, the United States.
In May, 1998, Robert Parker was awarded top honors by the James Beard Foundation
(which awards the highest honors to food and beverage professionals) for the Wine
and Spirits Professional of 1997.
Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide (5th Ed)
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Cloth / Published 1999
Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide (4th Ed)
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Paperback / Published 1995
Wines of the Rhone Valley
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Hardcover / Published 1997
Bordeaux : A Comprehensive Guide to the Wines Produced from 1961-1997
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Hardcover / Published 1998
Burgundy : A Comprehensive Guide to the Producers, Appellations, and Wines
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Hardcover / Published 1990
Bordeaux : A Consumer's Guide to the World's Finest Wines, 4th edition
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Hardcover / Published 2004
Wine Buyer's Guide, 6th edition
Robert M. Parker, Jr. / Hardcover / Published 2002
Robert Parker's Latest book:"The World's Greatest Wine Estates"
You can subscribe to the print version of The Wine Advocate, renew your subscription to The Wine Advocate or purchase back issues of the newsletter. You can also purchase books by Robert Parker. Just click on one of the above categories to get started.
If you have questions about the products offered here or about the status of an order, please contact The Wine Advocate, Inc., at:
The Wine Advocate Store at eRobertParker.com
The Wine Advocate, Inc. P.O. Box 311 Monkton, MD 21111
Telephone: 410-329-6477 FAX: 410-357-4504
Email: wineadvocate@erobertparker.com
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The Robert Parker's Rating system |
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Robert Parker's rating system employs a 50-100 point quality scale. It is my belief
that the various twenty (20) point rating systems do not provide enough flexibility
and often result in compressed and inflated wine ratings. The WINE ADVOCATE takes
a hard, very critical look at wine, since I would prefer to underestimate the wine's
quality than to overestimate it. The numerical ratings are utilized only to enhance
and complement the thorough tasting notes, which are my primary means of communicating
my judgments to you.
96-100
An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the
attributes expected of a classic wine of Its variety. I think wines of this caliber
are worth a special effort to find, purchase, and consume.
90-95
An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. I consider these
to be terrific wines.
80-89
A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse
and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70-79
An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In
short, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60-69
A below average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive
acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor, or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50-59
A wine I deem to be unacceptable. |
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Wine Technologies |
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 Wine
Technologies produces Robert Parker's Wine Advisor and Cellar Manager, a Windows
program for IBM compatible PC's. The new 2000 Edition CD-ROM of our software is
now available for purchase. The software is shipped on a CD-ROM in an attractive
cardboard sleeve and is available in two versions:
Standard Edition
consists of the software itself plus a database derived from the 1998 and 1999 issues
of The Wine Advocate. The database contains more than 8,000 tastings for over 7,000
wines (representing virtually all the wines reviewed in those 12 bi-monthly issues
of the newsletter).
Deluxe Edition
consists of the software itself plus a database derived from the 1992 through 1999
issues of The Wine Advocate. The database contains some 34,000 wine tastings for
over 28,000 wines (representing virtually all the wines reviewed in those 42 bi-monthly
issues of the newsletter). This edition also includes corresponding prices, when
available, from the new 2000 edition of the Wine Price File book (with updates released
through March). More information on the
Wine Technologies Homepage
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 more
info on wine advocate
go to wine guides overview
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