Why I Love Robert Parker

Ok – I know this is not a very popular position to take these days. After all – Bob and I are not on first name basis – in fact I am damned sure he doesn’t know I exist. Hi Bob! Love your work!

I am a professional wine guy; one who (when I used to own my little wine shop) staunchly refused to stock wines on the basis of high scores or best buy recommendations from anyone. I refused to place number-rating “shelf talkers” on the wines in my shop and didn’t buy wines just because Bob, or anyone else said so. Yet I still say Robert Parker Rocks.

For those of you who don’t know him, Mr. Parker rates wines from around the world, publishing review and scores in his Wine Advocate journal and website. Using a numerical 100-point scale, which his legions of fans eagerly await, he effectively determines how great (or not so great) a wine is by assigning it a number. Bob's fans whole-heartedly trust Bob’s hard-working palate rather than their own - the easiest way to get suckered into buying wines that you never would have touched if you had blind-tasted them yourself. One of the biggest complaints about the wines achieving a high rating in Bob's publication is that many of the wines that come under his scrutiny are hard, if not impossible to find for a wide variety of reasons - small production, limited distribution, regional importation restrictions and more. So why do I say Bob rocks? Read on...

Ok - so here's an antiBob sentiment: New-world wines, of which Bob is a big fan, tend to show huge layers of concentrated fruit, high levels of alcohol and too much oak treatment to lend any elegance or balanced structure. They are known as “big” wines and are all the rage these days - especially with those just starting to learn about wine. They are generally rich and heady with teeth staining color extraction for the reds and thick, almost syrupy textures for the whites. I don’t like these kinds of wines. They are not food friendly and show little in the way of the sublime complexity that I prefer. Bob likes these styles of wines. Maybe his palate is less sensitive than mine.

This must lead you to the idea that I don’t think Parker has a good palate. Not true - but his palate and my palate don’t agree nose to nose. I like old-world styled wines which tend to show more delicacy and finesse, while Bob prefers new-world wines with their bolder, more obvious attributes. Of course there are caveats to all things in life and there are always some elegant surprises that I find in Bob’s recommendations from time to time – but this is the exception, not the norm.
So why do I say Bob rocks? Say what you will about the guy who rates wines for a living – a subjective bit of work if ever there was one. However, Bob has done more positive things for the world of wine than few could ever dream of.

One thing that has always impressed me is that Bob is truly an independent. He accepts no advertising in his publication, “The Wine Advocate” and buys all wines that he samples for rating out of a personal budget. Wines which are shipped to Bob gratis for his work are subsequently donated to good charity cause auctions. His character and mission of absolute independence and honesty without the pressures of indebtedness is exremely honorable. That’s a pretty high standard for any to hold dear and yet Bob does it with élan. By not accepting gifts or advertising dollars, rest assured that Bob actually is independent of and not beholden to producers who may shower others who rate wines in their glossy publications with special bottles, trips, meals, full-page glowing advertisements in their magazines, and more (if you know what I mean, nudge nudge, wink wink.)

There is lots of info and bio about Bob out there with all kinds of accolades and admiring histories (and of course some negatives as well but c'mon - we all make enemies) but I don’t care about that and won’t parrot what’s already been done – all I care about is the wine. So that leads to "Bob! What have you done for me lately?" After all – being the selfish and cantankerous wino that I am, what’s in it for me? C’mon Bob – where’s the must?

The first major impact that Bobs’ work provoked was the overall quality improvement of the Bordeaux region wines – a trend which continues today. Through sheer exposure and unbiased reporting and reviewing, Bob has literally forced Bordeaux to get over its bad self and pay attention to what they do in the vineyard and the winery. Bob isn’t scared of the entrenched power of the Bordeaux elite and refuses to back down in his demand for better wine. Does that mean that I prefer the new-world style of Bordeaux over the old? In general, no! While there is still an ocean of insipid, thin and vegetal wine that come out of Bordeaux en mass, when Bordeaux gets it right, the elegance and sublime complexity of a great Bordeaux is astonishing and memorable. That is not truly compatible with the new style of wine being made there today by the new guard who listens to what Bob preaches: heavier extraction of fruit harvested later than regional tradition dictated, oak treatment bordering on the absurd, alcohol levels approaching those of fortified wines and micro-oxygenation. Many of these new-world stylized wines are subtle as a falling piano. They also receive 95 to 100 points in Bob's ratings.

Secondly, Bob is also partly responsible for the enormous increase in both the production of fine wine around the globe, and even more importantly the interest and enjoyment of wine by consumers here and abroad. America, partly because of Bob, has finally slipped out of its pathetic coma – induced and controlled by the zealot morons who still, to this day tout abstinence – the prohibitionist absolutists – who kept Americans from fine wine for decades. (If you want proof of this, just look into the history of Pre and post-prohibition wine industry in this country. I can recommend several books and studies on the subject – alas, most are good cures for insomnia, even though the data is pure and damning.) Through Bob’s high-profile, we are finally coming to our senses in this country and embracing wine as part of the good life; a life that includes the deep European tradition of great meals shared with fine friends and family, and a glass or three of excellent fermented grape juice. Life really doesn’t get much better than that folks!

The last thing that I appreciate so much is that Bob is an unabashed French fanatic -a Francophile if every there was one. In the days following France’s refusal to get drawn into President Shrubs Iraqi debacle, some “Mericuns” were seen pouring French wine out in the streets – showcased and spurred on by the idiotic core of our mass media here in the US. How pathetic is that? At my old shop I was called several times and threatened if I didn’t get rid of my French wines (of course the cowards never would leave a name and number for a discussion, or host a visit from the police.) During this period of idiotic psuedopatriotism, I had the extreme pleasure of booting someone from my shop for the insolent demand that I destroy the French wines on my shelves. Through it all, Bob kept going to France, rating the greatest wines in the world and reporting back to us in his unbiased and unapologetic way. Bob’s refusal to jump on the anti-French bandwagon raised my respect for him even more.

So the next time you badmouth Bob, think about what I’ve said and thank him for all he’s done for the world of wine – even if, like me, your palate doesn’t mesh with his. Now if I can just get Bob to embrace the grace and subtle complexity of Burgundy, the Cabernet Francs from Saumur-Champigny and Chinon, or the delicacy and laser precision of the great Rieslings from the Mosel-Saar-Rüwer, we’ll be on the same page so I can enthusiastically back his recommendations. Of course that would mean that I wouldn’t have to taste the wines myself thus passing my own judgment on each wine out there… Hmmm – on second thought – Bob – why don’t you retire!

Cheers,
Larry the Sommelier