Tim Atkin MW: Sorry Mr Parker, but the world has moved on

tim atkin robert parker

Robert Parker is one of the most talked about and divisive individuals in the world of wine. Now into his seventies and the twilight of his career, he still has the power to ignite heated discussions – even if his sway over the wineries, domaines and châteaux that once trembled before his judgments has largely vanished.

To some, Parker is a consumer champion: a straight-talking guy who always told it like it was. To others, he’s personally responsible for promoting a smooth, ripe, concentrated style of red wine that’s dismissed as “international” – or, worse, “Parkerised” – imposing his tastes on the market like some crazed dictator. The truth, as it often does, lies somewhere between these two poles.

Robert Parker and I go back a long way. When I was working on Wine Magazine in the late 1980s, one of my tasks was to sub the copy of our new American columnist, who was fast becoming an influential figure on both sides of the Atlantic. The copy was dull and rambling – fine prose has never been Parker’s strength – but we were grateful for the reflected glory.

I’ve never met him, but people who have describe him as friendly, intelligent and good company, a hedonist who likes food, music and especially wine and is happy to break bread with all comers. In my early days as a wine writer, he replied politely by fax to some questions I put to him, and he has always struck me as someone who is diligent, hard-working and passionate.

In short, a wine enthusiast as well as a critic. I also think he gets more than his share of unjustified criticism. He’s not the devil and – beyond the desire to be read, heard and followed – has always written about the wines he likes to drink.

 

SLURRED LINES

Parker is back on the agenda because of a recent, impassioned, if somewhat partial defence of him by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, editor-in-chief of Robert Parker Wine Advocate, railing against what she calls “the erroneous slur of Parkerisation”. She argues that her former boss is “the father of modern wine criticism” – which is true, up to a point – and that he reflected, rather than guided, prevailing American wine tastes – also true up to a point.

Parker’s power didn’t develop in a vacuum. He spoke to a new generation of drinkers looking for flavour, richness and easy drinkability in their wines, for whom he wrote long, gushing, detailed notes and provided a “definitive” score for each wine.

Overall, I think her defence is just about warranted. I rarely enjoy the wines Parker likes, but he’s always been true to his own palate. Perrotti-Brown exaggerates the extent to which he single-handedly “levelled the wine-quality playing field”, but she’s not alone in that. As the man himself once commented, “when I started tasting wine in the 1970s, we were on a slippery slope. There was a standardisation of wines, when you couldn’t tell a Chianti from a Cabernet Sauvignon. That’s pretty much stopped now.”

The irony is that Parker himself, perhaps unwittingly, has contributed to a standardisation of style in some regions. Bordeaux is the most obvious example, but so are California and the Rhône Valley. Wineries made wines to please Parker, and he has never been slow to anoint those he felt were following the true path – among them Helen Turley, Marcel Guigal and Michel Rolland – and castigate those who didn’t.

Parker’s influence has also been felt in Spain, Argentina, Australia and Chile, all markets where many producers sought high scores from Parker or his acolyte, Jay Miller, by making certain styles of wine. I don’t feel that influence has been positive in any of those countries.

Perrotti-Brown says that “our tastes have changed”, but I’m not sure that Parker’s have. Today he exists mainly as a cheerleader for a style that is slipping out of fashion, a man in the vinous equivalent of an Afghan coat. “Parkerised wines”, if we may use such a term, are still made all over the world, but they are in decline. Everywhere you look, power and concentration are giving way to freshness and finesse. Indeed, many producers actively make wines that are “anti-Parker”, eschewing the aromas, flavours and structures that he loves so much.

Parker gave them something to react against. But his reign, which lasted from 1982 to 2015, is over. We have much to thank him for, but the world has moved on.

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