wein.plus
Attention
You are using an old browser that may not function as expected.
For a better, safer browsing experience, please upgrade your browser.

Log in Become a Member

He has turned 65 and is retiring from the editorship of his publishing company. He has already sold part of his empire, his new partners are hedge fund managers from Singapore. I am talking, of course, about Robert M. Parker, the world's most influential wine critic. Without his PP (Parker Points), nothing works in the wine industry anymore. If a wine has reached 90 PP, it can also be marketed, because the judgement of Robert M. Parker has long since become the most reliable guarantor of quality. "Parker wines", say his critics - slightly contemptuously - and turn up their noses.

Arrived on the Olympus: Clos Fourtet 2009 - 100 Parker points (Source: P. Züllig)

Should I really write about the Parker phenomenon as well? Hasn't everything - and more - already been said? Is it even possible to see through the Parker myth, let alone analyse it? No! "The Baltimore Sun" - Parker lives in Baltimore - reports on 10 December: "Nearly 35 years after founding 'Wine Advocate', Robert M. Parker Jr. has shocked wine lovers with his announcement of retirement as editor-in-chief and the racking of his 'newsletter' from Maryland to the Far East." A retirement in instalments, it seems. Is this the beginning of the end of "Parkerism"?

As a Bordeaux lover, whether I wanted to or not, I simply could not get past Parker. He didn't steer my life, but he steered part of my finances, my Bordeaux knowledge, my wine credibility, my wine cellar away from distant Maryland. So much so that for a long time - against my better judgement - I simply claimed that Robert M. Parker Jr. n'existe pas - Robert M. Parker Jr. does not exist - at least not as a person, only as a myth, an art figure, an institution. I was thinking of Betty Bossi, the fictional cook who has been teaching Swiss people how to cook since 1956 and still teaches them today. Couldn't this also be the case with Parker - in the field of wine?

"The Wine Advocate" with high standards: "...the planet's most interesting discussion board..." (Source: P. Züllig)

There is hardly a wine publication that has not written about Parker in these weeks. He is ghosting through all newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs. He has managed to be omnipresent again. That is part of his myth: always present and yet never quite tangible. The "big interview" with Parker from 1995 was prominently displayed on the website of Hamburg journalist Mario Scheuermann for almost ten years. Authentic testimonies are rare. Myths take their place. For example, the legend that Parker tastes more than 100 wines a day; or that he recognises a wine with certainty from 100 samples - even years later; or that he has an "absolute sense of taste" (analogous to absolute hearing); or that he can describe 200,000 wines from memory; or, or, or....

Legends and myths always carry a kernel of truth. This core condenses - in Robert M. Parker's case - into a kind of American sun god and papal infallibility. Not for nothing has he been called the wine pope for a good 30 years. History teaches us: Europe was dominated by absolutism until well into the 18th century, when the Enlightenment - partly through revolutions - brought about a different balance of power. The Catholic Church, which did not stop at the Enlightenment, reacted in 1870 with the dogma of "papal infallibility". It secured its influence and power for another hundred years.

Louis XIV - the Sun King (Source: P. Züllig)

Similarly in the recent history of wine. When in the late 1960s and 70s the dominance of traditions was lost and marketing in the wine industry swelled to uncontrolled growth, many - especially traders and consumers - longed for a clear, regulating force. If, on top of that, it came from the then promised land of America and promised independence, the growing influence was only a matter of time. Robert M. Parker Jr. was the name of this force, he was a lawyer, wine lover and a good taster. "His simple system is foolproof and understandable to any buyer, merchant or consumer," wrote Die Welt.

Like believers once were, wine consumers are now "finally freed from the stress of making their own assessments". From now on, one can refer to Parker. "The insecure middle classes - who increasingly see wine culture as an extension of their standard of living - are given a foothold. This is how Parker is paving his way." This path - by now a lucrative business - is also increasingly becoming a "path of suffering". The independence of the Pope is more and more doubted, the Iraq war puts Parker in dire straits in 2003 (he does not travel to the traditional primary tasting in Bordeaux; reason: he had promised his daughter not to travel to dangerous Europe!), then - in 2007 - the critical book by his former collaborator Hanna Agostini "Robert Parker - Anatomie d'un mythe" and finally the unflattering appearance (Parker's public appearances are a rarity anyway) in the documentary "Mondovino" by Jonathan Nossiter. Parker's self-sufficiency is slowly coming to an end.

Robert M. Parker% Jr. (Source: P. Züllig)

And now? Should I be sad? Look for a new pope? Repeat my not-so-rare Parker critique? Interrupt my electronic access to the Parker archive (I cancelled his "Wine Advocate" long ago)? Rejoice because my suspicion that it's all about "big business" has long since come true? Make him responsible for the exorbitant prices of top wines that I can no longer afford?

None of that. What remains for me is to draw a sober balance, that is probably the most appropriate reaction to Parker's partial withdrawal.

  1. Even I, who am critical of Parker, have never been able to do without his judgement all these years. At least with one eye I have squinted at his PP. I have learned a lot from his judgements, about wine and wine taste.
  2. Parker the person (shrouded in legend) has become a brand that has risen to become a big player in the China business by selling to Asia.
  3. Not Parker, but the power of the factual has influenced the wine world, far more than any climate change. In wine, a fashion dictate has taken hold. The wine fashion pope - rightly - washes his hands of the matter.
  4. It is not Parker - the ingenious taster and opinion marketer - who has changed wines. It is the producers, down to the small winemaker, who have followed fashion to stay in business.
  5. What does history teach: New popes (even if they are no longer called that) are chosen and consecrated, new dogmas are established. They are already on the way and are called organic or terroir or internet. Yesterday still fashionable, today a heresy and tomorrow perhaps forgotten.

All this is (also) part of Parker's wine world. All those who have stacked "Parker wines" in their cellars for good business must learn to live with fashion.

Sincerely
Yours/Yours

Related Magazine Articles

View All
More
More
More
More
More
More
More
More
More
More

EVENTS NEAR YOU

PREMIUM PARTNERS