PARKER'S WINE BUYER'S GUIDE, 5TH EDITION : Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Vintages, Prices, and Ratings for More Than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions

Rating:
Summary: Much work from RP, but mostly on the wrong subject
Review: At first I was surprised by the hughe amount of wines and wineries the author described. That must have been a lot work for him. But the result doesn't always convince me. It seems, Mr Parker doesn't like German wine. Although every serious wine journalist says that german Riesling is the Queen of grapes and its wine, esp. the old botrytis-sweet Rieslings and Eiswein are the best white wines in the world, Mr Parker doesn't review one single wine producer. SHAME ON YOU; Mr Parker. Overall I think this book is not for the wine lover but only for serious wine collectors who spend hundereds if not thousands of $ for wine. I prefer the publications of Hugh Johnson or Mr. Broadbent, although they are not 100 % convincing, too.

Rating:
Summary: Robert Parker "Parker's wine buyers guide"
Review: Generally an excellent book. However, I was suprised to find no mention of Canadian wines. Having recently visited the Niagra region and tasted their produce, I find them the equal of many of the world's wines. This would seem to be an important omission in what is regarded as the premier wine book.

Rating:
Summary: Too much Burgundy and too little new world...
Review: I've always (up to now) been a fan of Parkers books. In my opinion, he's always managed to give a thorough description of all areas he has visited - since last book issue.. This is not the case for 'Wine buyers guide, 5th edition' ! First of all, 500 pages (of 1700 in total) on Burgundy alone is waaay over the top (unless you are a burgundy devote, of course !) On the other hand, it seems like mr. Parker still hasn't recognised the potential in many new areas of the world (ie NZ, here look for James Hallidays EXCELLENT wine companion instead) And what about the emerging South Africa ? As stated by other reviewers, other parts of France don't get their fair share and - you can certainly do better that that on Germany, Bob ! Even though I've bought the book - and in some way, feel it covers the newer vintages, I cannot help feeling let down, considering earlier editions. So...I only give it an 86 out of 100 ! (eat that, Bob)

Rating:
Summary: a good starting point at least
Review: If you like Frank Rich's theater reviews, Parker is for you. The only thing he seems to care about is selling himself.

This isn't just a criticism of this book, but of all Parker's world. He rates wine on a scale of 50 - 100. If a wine scores 82 is it really 5 better than one that scores 77? What does this mean? Wine is something that should be enjoyed with friends, not scored like a college exam. I don't rate my friends from 50 - 100, and I don't rate wine this way. On a more technical level, he trys to taste all his wine straight from the barrel before bottling. This is just plain silly. You don't judge a cake by eating flour and raw eggs. You taste the finished product.

If you want good wine advice, then buy books by Hugh Johnson or Oz Clarke or Jancis Robinson.

Rating:
Summary: Just accept the bias
Review: If you'll accept Robert Parker's bias towards French wines, you'll appreciate the 5th edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide. (As a holder of France's Legion of Honour, you'd hardly expect him to lean towards German plonk!) That said, Parker's Guide is an almost complete reference on wine vintages and prices with ratings for more than 7,500 wines from all major wine regions. It is by far the most comprehensive and respected wine rating book in the market.

There are critics who say that Parker is too influential, that his weakness for strong, tannin rich reds makes him biased in their favour, but there is still no other rating book that comes close. Until his critics come up with something better, they should hold their peace.

What impressed me was the way the Parker's Guide picks up even on some of the smaller chateaux. Clos de Gamot, for example is a tiny producer and I wouldn't have expected to find their wine given a mention. On the other hand, South Africa and Canada (both somewhat larger 'chateaux') seem to have been missed altogether! Like I said, you need to accept Parker's bias to all things French. I guess at 2,000 pages, the book weighs enough already!

Rating:
Summary: Informative, but...
Review: Many if not most of the wines Parker rates highly here are very hard or nearly impossible to obtain. An ambitious project like this really makes no sense in today's wine market because it takes so long to compile the information. Today, the most deisrable bottles are either snapped up right away by collectors, incredibly expensive, or available only through winery mailing lists and clubs.

Parker is a great stylist and keen observer, especially of Bordeaux and California, and the most valuable sections are the introductions to each region, which offer suggestions on producers to look for and broad trends in winemaking.<P....

Rating:
Summary: interesting but not as comprehensive as the cover suggests
Review: This book is almost 2,000 pages and I am taking the liberty of writing a few comments based on a quick overview. The text on the bottom of the front cover states "...Ratings for more than 8000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions". Some important wine areas are completely excluded, such as South Africa, the USA apart from the West Coast, Canada, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East (where there are a few very prestigious growers, such as Chateau Musar). Burgundy and Beaujolais together receive about 500 pages of commentary whereas Bordeaux gets only about 200. Germany gets 11 pages only, of which 5 are maps and general information about how its labelling system works, and no tasting notes at all. Austria is appended to Germany, and receives 5 and a half pages with tasting notes. All of the notes are devoted to one Austrian producer's Trockenbeerenauslese wines. I was quite astounded to find the exclusion in the German chapter of Robert Weil among recommended producers. His Rheingau Riesling wines are getting some of the highest prices in the country and comparable recognition. The section on Spain includes no evaluations of its white wines, as they were not considered by the author to be worthy. There are no comments on the country's wonderful sherries. The section on Portugal is devoted almost entirely to Port, with about half a page on table wine. There are no evaluations of any madeiras. I fail to understand why the author chose to include detailed commentaries on vintage Ports and Sauternes chateaux but practically nothing on sherry, madeira, Hungarian Tokaji Aszu Essencia, or German dessert wine. To me this seems very arbitrary.
It should also be noted that Mr. Parker's assistant Pierre-Antoine Rovani wrote the tasting notes and/or scoring (using the 100 point system of course) for red and white Burgundy, Alsace, the Loire, Germany, Washington and Oregon, and New Zealand. This comes to somewhere between a third and half the total text. His very significant contribution is noted in one paragraph in the introduction.
Having said all of this, for the most part I like what is contained here. It was decided - correctly in my view - to present the major French wine regions in alphabetical order rather than starting with either Bordeaux or Burgundy. Therefore the first 75 pages or so are devoted to Alsace. I have been a huge fan of this area's wines for the last 12 years and Mr. Rovani's comments are excellent. I concur wholeheartedly with his assertions that the very best vintages from the estates of Domaines Weinbach and Zind-Humbrecht (among others) offer quality equal to anything from Burgundy. You are not likely to go wrong with any of the recommendations here. The Burgundy section may seem a bit excessive at 500 pages, but again Messrs. Rovani and Parker emphasize there are sizeable variations in quality and it is easy to pay top dollar for mediocre wine here. It was noted that in the elite Le Montrachet, some 20 acres, there are 15 producers, of which only 5 or 6 can be relied upon for producing consistently excellent wine - yet all of them charge anywhere from $150 to $300+ a bottle. I cannot fault the authors for providing some extra guidance and information here, and if it saves the reader from spending money on one mediocre bottle the book has more than paid for itself. The Bordeaux section is well written but with over 2,000 chateaux to choose from, it could have been longer. To be fair, this area (and Burgundy) can take a book by itself, which Parker has done on 3 occasions already.
The rest of the book has some interesting things too, but I have to disagree with the author's assertion that there is a lot of bad wine made in Washington. I've enjoyed it for many years and cannot honestly recall ever paying too much for a bottle. Oddly enough, Washington's best offerings get higher scoring than those from Oregon. New Zealand's offerings are confined to only one page.
So far I like this book but cannot in all fairness give it an unqualified recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: interesting but not as comprehensive as the cover suggests
Review: This book is almost 2,000 pages and I am taking the liberty of writing a few comments based on a quick overview. The text on the bottom of the front cover states "...Ratings for more than 8000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions". Some important wine areas are completely excluded, such as South Africa, the USA apart from the West Coast, Canada, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East (where there are a few very prestigious growers, such as Chateau Musar). Burgundy and Beaujolais together receive about 500 pages of commentary whereas Bordeaux gets only about 200. Germany gets 11 pages only, of which 5 are maps and general information about how its labelling system works, and no tasting notes at all. Austria is appended to Germany, and receives 5 and a half pages with tasting notes. All of the notes are devoted to one Austrian producer's Trockenbeerenauslese wines. I was quite astounded to find the exclusion in the German chapter of Robert Weil among recommended producers. His Rheingau Riesling wines are getting some of the highest prices in the country and comparable recognition. The section on Spain includes no evaluations of its white wines, as they were not considered by the author to be worthy. There are no comments on the country's wonderful sherries. The section on Portugal is devoted almost entirely to Port, with about half a page on table wine. There are no evaluations of any madeiras. I fail to understand why the author chose to include detailed commentaries on vintage Ports and Sauternes chateaux but practically nothing on sherry, madeira, Hungarian Tokaji Aszu Essencia, or German dessert wine. To me this seems very arbitrary.
It should also be noted that Mr. Parker's assistant Pierre-Antoine Rovani wrote the tasting notes and/or scoring (using the 100 point system of course) for red and white Burgundy, Alsace, the Loire, Germany, Washington and Oregon, and New Zealand. This comes to somewhere between a third and half the total text. His very significant contribution is noted in one paragraph in the introduction.
Having said all of this, for the most part I like what is contained here. It was decided - correctly in my view - to present the major French wine regions in alphabetical order rather than starting with either Bordeaux or Burgundy. Therefore the first 75 pages or so are devoted to Alsace. I have been a huge fan of this area's wines for the last 12 years and Mr. Rovani's comments are excellent. I concur wholeheartedly with his assertions that the very best vintages from the estates of Domaines Weinbach and Zind-Humbrecht (among others) offer quality equal to anything from Burgundy. You are not likely to go wrong with any of the recommendations here. The Burgundy section may seem a bit excessive at 500 pages, but again Messrs. Rovani and Parker emphasize there are sizeable variations in quality and it is easy to pay top dollar for mediocre wine here. It was noted that in the elite Le Montrachet, some 20 acres, there are 15 producers, of which only 5 or 6 can be relied upon for producing consistently excellent wine - yet all of them charge anywhere from $150 to $300+ a bottle. I cannot fault the authors for providing some extra guidance and information here, and if it saves the reader from spending money on one mediocre bottle the book has more than paid for itself. The Bordeaux section is well written but with over 2,000 chateaux to choose from, it could have been longer. To be fair, this area (and Burgundy) can take a book by itself, which Parker has done on 3 occasions already.
The rest of the book has some interesting things too, but I have to disagree with the author's assertion that there is a lot of bad wine made in Washington. I've enjoyed it for many years and cannot honestly recall ever paying too much for a bottle. Oddly enough, Washington's best offerings get higher scoring than those from Oregon. New Zealand's offerings are confined to only one page.
So far I like this book but cannot in all fairness give it an unqualified recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: The Best overall guide around
Review: You can make up your mind whether you agree with Parker's tastes or not, but he is thorough, accepts no ads, ranks high in the integrity column, and is consistent. If you are looking for a guide, you should not just examine Parker's book. There are many wine viewpoints that are helpful in the world. But it is also hard to think of anyone that does such a comprehensive job with such talent and integrity. You don't have to agree with every opinion or every review to appreciate this unique resource.