Robert Parker is by far the best-known wine critic in the world,
who has announced that
he would no longer taste Bordeaux en primeur earlier last year. Mr.
Parker said that, after more than three decades of reviewing en primeur, he is
not retiring but will hand over en primeur tasting responsibilities to British reviewer Neal
Martin, while still covering the region’s wines from bottle.
Before that, Parker rated both en primeur and bottled wines
in Bordeaux. En primeur are marketed in spring following the harvest, 18 months
before bottling. For most people, it is difficult to taste these wines and,
even if invited to these early tastings, it is difficult to judge these
unfinished wines. Thus, there is a huge uncertainty regarding the final quality
of each wine. Hence, people heavily rely on the expertise of wine critics to
know which wine to purchase en primeur. Parker’s ratings, therefore, have a
direct impact on demand and thereby on release prices
Ever since his absolute reputation and powerful influence
built by betting on Bordeaux 1982 vintage, which was panned by other wine
critics at that time, Parker has covered nearly every vintage from
Bordeaux and made undeniable impact on both its supply and demand in market,
which is called “Parkerization” by Wikipedia, including the modification of
winemaking process, the style preference, the price, etc. His 100-point rating
system also challenged the 1855 Appellation system at consumer’s end. (He, and
others, have said that it is the obscurity, corruption, and other problems of
the appellation system that made his consumer-oriented approach
necessary. )
Hence, undoubtedly, Parker’s stepping aside from barrel tasting may have an
effect on the style of wines being produced. It is no secret that he favors
the riper, fuller, fruitier style of châteaux, as opposed to a more traditional
style favoring balance, elegance and finesse. In recent years there has been a
move among certain châteaux to produce riper, smoother wines, and this could
change if Parker’s influence in the region wanes.
Market
wise, as some of the winemakers in Bordeaux may feel uncertain about their
reactions; on the other side, we may also see new opportunities as the Parker’s
Bordeaux fever calms down. Comparing to the times when châteaux could doubled
their price following Parker’s rating, this announcement was good news for the
futures system as they will be forced to start pricing conservatively again.
Thanks for finding all this info, Jack. It's fascinating to think about what the future of wine will look like with Robert Parker not firmly at the helm. You pose an interesting question at the end about how Parker stepping down will influence Bordeaux winemakers and it relates to something that came up in a wine circle event this week. On Tuesday the wine circle hosted Erin Callahan from Red Car Winery. Red car focuses on cool climate, low alcohol wines which is very much the antithesis of Parker style wines. She commented on the role of the critic and how Parker is very much against their wines. However, she also noted that over time the majority of critics have found value in low alcohol/cool climate wines. At this point, Parker is a hold outs on the other side. This leads me to believe that as Parker's star wanes there are actually more critics on the other side of his style preferences that will begin to tip the scales.
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