The Emperor of Wine
Book Review
‘The Emperor of Wine – The Rise of Robert E Parker and the Reign of American Taste’- Elin McCoy
After reading the rather pompous title to this book, I was expecting gushing adoration about how the wine world was saved by one man!
But Elin McCoy does manage to hold her obvious admiration at bay and give a captivating insight into one of the most influential men in the world of wine. She shows both the positive and negative aspects of his work and reveals the controversies, grudges and wealth of personalities involved in and around his business.
Imagine an intelligent young law student growing up in Baltimore who finds a passion for wine but is constantly disappointed with the accuracy of wine writing available to him; he starts his own consumer publication – the Wine Advocate. The timing is perfect and with an increasing interest for fine wine in the US, a well assessed prediction of the 1982 vintage and a solid determination and ego he soon becomes the peoples choice of wine critic.
This powerful position means that a high score on his 100 pt scale can launch a fledgling winery or increase the prices sought by an existing one. Over time this power increases to such an extent that his reviews can literally create new wine regions or change the way wine is made in established regions.
Of course having this amount of influence is worrying and with it Robert Parker has created many admirers and enemies. He encourages well crafted wines that have flavour and balance through careful winemaking. This has increased the standard of wine making in many areas but along with that has created what is known as the ‘Parker-effect’ where point chasing is rife and for those with enough money can attempt to create wines that score the ultimate 100 and can be sold for a fortune afterwards.
As with anyone who works as a critic there are basic qualities that should be present in the product they are assessing. For wine this would include balance of fruit, acidity, tannin and alcohol – a certain typicity of origin and a relation to the vintage. After this it starts to become a matter of personal taste and the opinion starts to shift from the objective to the subjective. This is where RP suffers the most of his criticisms as some people do not like some of the wines he does.
The book shows that he is a man of great personal integrity and sound principles. Whom from the beginning, paid for all his wine samples and travel expenses himself, and who speaks his mind and sticks to his opinions.
As a bit of an anorak myself, I found the book a well written, fascinating read; with many references to famous wines and individuals. There are also some very funny incidents included; such as when, after poorly scoring the 1981 Cheval-Blanc, the winemaker stood by impassively as his miniature schnauzer ravaged the critics ankle.
It is quite common to hear wine professionals cast down RP and his judgements – which is unjust but understandably – but this biography should be compulsory reading for all those who would criticise without, beforehand, gaining some insight to the man himself.
