Parker saga continues

He had no background in wine but as a small-town lawyer launched a subscription publication, The Wine Advocate. Over 40 years, Parker rated hundreds of thousands of wines, profoundly impacting the wine industry. Known as Parkerization, this led to a homogenisation of wine styles, favouring fruity, high-alcohol wines at the expense of local varieties and traditional methods.

WINE OF THE WEEK

• LAN Rosado Rioja 2023

• There are some bodegas that battle on through thick and thin, relying on the dependability of their wines to keep sales turning over LAN is one of these, a rosé that will neither offend nor give rise to a firework display, but just evenly-priced and good to the last drop. Around €8

Parker became famous by rating wine on a simple-to-understand point scale allegedly pilfered from a college marking system. Until his semi-retirement at age 71, and sale of his company to a Hong Kong group, he never stopped judging wines, and throughout was subject to criticism and controversies which ranged from death threats and lawsuits to dog attacks. He once alleged that a winery owner had offered his daughter as bed company.

His leap to fame occurred at the Bordeaux futures tasting of 1982 en primeur. While other critics were more hesitant with praise, he adored them, writing, "There may not be another vintage this great for 50 years."

As was to be foreseen, growers started making wines in a style they believed would get Parker's approval, hardly a hanging offence, but condemned generally by the trade.

Parker has always given rise to a level of controversy, and even this humble scribe has been the target of the great man's lawyers' ire. All's fair, (etc)...