Robert Parker

There is no debate that the person who has the biggest influence on wine prices and on the wine industry in general is Robert Parker. His main platform is the bi-weekly publication, the Wine Advocate that has a readership of more than 40,000. He has written many books focused on Bordeaux and the Rhone, but covering the whole world and has an expanding website (www.erobertparker.com) which broadcasts his point of view. What is more, he has burst out of the wine world by being profiled on 60 Minutes and has been awarded the ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’honneur’ by Jacques Chirac.

His approach, picking a specific winery and a specific vintage and then writing brief tasting notes followed by a score (50-100), a range of years to drink the wine, and an approximate retail price has been widely copied. Parker does an amazing 10,000 of these ratings a year. A swift calculation concludes that he rates an average of 28 wines every single day! For the Winevestor it is imperative to know the ratings Parker bestows upon a wine. When he gives a rating of above 90 then the wine typically increases by 30% in the retail channel. A rating of above 94/95 can increase the wine by 50%. What is more, his scores have legs, at auction his ratings are usually shown in the catalogues, and are the easy way for a Winevestor to know which lots are going to be fought over.