Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide

by Robert M. Parker Jr.

Book Overview

Parker's acclaimed guide, fully revised with ratings on the latest vintages from around the world, is one of the most authoritative wine guides available and now comes with expanded sections on the popular wines of California and Italy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743229312
• ISBN13: 9780743229319
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 1648 Pages
• Weight: 4.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 3.8" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Scores, Brief Notes, Broad Coverage

Breathtakingly brief, in a good way, the majority of this guide is a line item list of offerings by vintage within winery, within region. Parker includes short notes on each winery, vintages as a whole, and points out relevant changes to wineries. He also provides some throwaway advice in the beginning of the book on storage, aging, and the like. The brief winery notes, typically a paragraph per, are worth the cost alone. Parker's ratings and comments are useful to have even if you don't care for him, as they are firmly embedded in the wine criticism conversation at the top tier. One has to ask if it's better to subscribe to Parker's online service, however. You will get all that's in this book and quite a bit more, plus it will be available to you with a mobile device at the store or restaurant. The cost, while more than this volume, is still relatively modest.

An astonishing compendium that reinvents the wine buyer guide

Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide Nº 7 is an astonishing compendium on wine written by the world's foremost wine critic in concert with his entire new Wine Advocate team. The Guide covers every wine region of any consequence on the planet, and includes a bit of history, a comprehensive survey of the wines of each area, discussion and ratings of all the relevant producers in each region, and poignant essays that cut to the heart of all the major contemporary issues of all of these regions. There is no other comparable work with the comprehensive coverage, the insightful commentary, and the ratings of thousands of wines from recent vintages that this seventh edition of Parker's popular guide provides. By leaving out the detailed individual tasting notes of previous editions, probably to keep it at a slim 1513 pages, this book has reinvented the consumer wine guide yet again. It now begs to be read cover to cover (it really does, and I did), rather than be used simply to look up a favored wine or a favorite region, though it still works perfectly for the quick pre-purchase look-up: all the scores for wines of recent vintages are there. The detailed tasting notes can readily be found on Parker's website, though it requires a subscription (which is well worth it for everything else going on there nowadays), but curiously, they aren't even missed. The unencumbered flow of text and lists has completely re-energized the Guide. It facilitates the enthusiast's quest for quick answers about a wine or region, as well as quenching even the most insatiable thirst for all details vinous, including insider information about winemakers and their winemaking approaches, and a thorough, candid, and unbiased read of what's good, what's great, and what's not. Parker's essays on all matters of wine in his forty page introduction, and David Schildknecht's extensive essays on Alsace, Austria, Burgundy, and Germany are worth the book's tariff alone. Then add the insights and critical assessments by the new members of his team that includes Dr. Jay Miller on Spain, Australia, South America, Washington, and Oregon; Antonio Galloni on Italy; Mark Squires on Portugal and the wines of Israel; the indefatigable and completely British Neal Martin on New Zealand and South Africa; and of course, the master himself on Bordeaux, the Rhone, and California wine, and the benchmark for wine writing has been raised to new heights. And I've left out many other regions covered. This wine buyer's guide not only meets the need for every wine buyer from the occasional purchaser to the obsessed enthusiast, it exceeds all previous expectations of the genre. And Parker invented the genre.

Classic that requires a new Update

The reason the "sheep" (word used in negative rating postings) follow Parker's guidance, and the reason Robert Parker's are the only reviews that influence price fluctuations for Bordeaux, is that Robert Parker combines impeccable taste with a relentless dedication to objectivity. Parker's 100-point Wine rating system has been near-universally adopted. Parker was the first Wine critic to seriously denounce Filtration practices that destroy Wines for merchant/commercial utility (ability to ship without regard to horridly high temperatures) -- Many other tasters (shills?) throughout the 1970's and 1980's insisted that filtering had no impact, or even influence, on taste. This pre or non-Parker view is now universally rejected, to the great benefit of Red Wine consumers. Criticisms that Parker spends too much time focusing on French wines (esp. Bordeaux) are true but largely miss-the-point. If you want a comprehensive guide to California Wineries, you should definitely look elsewhere. Specialty books abound on California Wines, especially here in the States, and to fault a Wine book containing 1,596 pages of Text for lack of comprehensiveness is near absurdity. Parker includes some "cult" California producers for, I think, obvious reasons: The "cult" offerings are far superior to overcropped, overpriced-even-at-$10-$12 California Wines that have saturated the US Market (does this really need to be stated?!). Parker ignores cheap, insipid California offerings just as he largely ignores cheap, insipid Italian Whites (again, note that I agree). You might just as well question why he doesn't rate jugs of Carlo Rossi. There's no conspiracy there. It is certainly true that Parker prefers full, tannic, flavorful Red Bordeaux (and Bordeaux-like) Wines. He is a Bordeaux specialist who has received 2 knighthoods from the nation of France for his Bordeaux tasting ability: Can you blame Wine Producers for courting his taste, or Wine Consumers for buying his selections?? Still, I don't think his preference is as all-encompassing as some critics suggest: I am personally a huge fan of Rieslings, and I have very rarely disagreed with Parker's ratings of Alsace and German producers. The biggest issue with this work is that it is getting out-of-date (though the superb quality of 2005 Bordeaux's may force Parker to pen a new version quickly). Also do take note if you do not have access to New York or California Wine stores you will only have access to most Parker-reviewed wines through online outlets. Some specific viewpoints also beguile some consumers who take insufferable offense: Parker loves Champagne and largely disparages 'Sparkling Wines' (a view I happen to share), Parker likes/loves Gewurztraminer which is not a crowd-pleaser, Parker hates Italian Whites, and Parker prefers the finest Red Bordeaux over the finest Red Burgundies (note that co-author Rovani penned the Burgundy section). For those interested in Value -- Best French values

Encyclopedic Guide Michelin for the best wines and prices

Could not believe the amazing amount of information about 8,000 wines available on the shelf. At a high level, wine types from all over the world are discussed in local context, the important and less important producers are identified, and specific wines are reviewed. This book not only tells me what the wine in the bottle tastes like, it gives me the Wine Advocate's quality judgement. (The Wine Advocate is widely acknowledged to be the single best authority on wine criticism. My own experience agrees with that judgement).The best part is that tons of the reviewed wines (same vintage even) are on the shelves at the shop for sale. So I can read about exactly what's in the bottle before spending my money. I got a coupon mailer from Total Beverage in my area and loaded up on great wines (all with 90+ scores) at big discounts! Avoided the losers; why buy losers when great stuff is on sale, too? Any way, this book is really useful to me as I'm stocking up the cellar for the holidays and beyond. BTW, saved in coupons on an order - so the book paid for itself twice over the first time I used it.IMHO, this is a great research tool for anyone who wants current information to help them buy wine now. I don't know how they can publish this much, this timely, at such a reasonable price. Kudos to the authors for a superb buying guide. After tasting the wines I just bought, their reviews get my top marks.

The Best overall guide around

You can make up your mind whether you agree with Parker's tastes or not, but he is thorough, accepts no ads, ranks high in the integrity column, and is consistent. If you are looking for a guide, you should not just examine Parker's book. There are many wine viewpoints that are helpful in the world. But it is also hard to think of anyone that does such a comprehensive job with such talent and integrity. You don't have to agree with every opinion or every review to appreciate this unique resource.