What are Parker Points?

Robert M. Parker, Jr. (Baltimore, Maryland, July 23, 1947) is an influential wine journalist from the United States of America. Parker studied history and law at the University of Maryland. He worked as a lawyer until 1984, before devoting himself entirely to wine. In 1978, Parker started The Wine Advocate because it was only a few reviews written by neutral people who did not connect to the wine industry. Parker made his name when he labeled the 1982 Bordeaux vintage, unlike most other wine journalists, "superb". In 2005, The Wine Advocate has 40,000 copies all over the world. The Wine Advocate and Robert Parker have become some of the most influential voices in the wine industry.

Points system: 

Robert Parker tastes several thousand wines a year. These wines are classified on a 100-point scale. Wines with more than 90 points are the "A" wines.

*96-100, extraordinary wines
* 90-95, excellent wines
* 80-89, above-average, to very good wines
* 70-79, average wines
* 60-69, wines below average
* 50-59, unacceptable wines

Wines with several points below 50 are not rated by Robert Parker. Incidentally, Parker points out that there is no substitute for one's perception. Also, there is no better method of learning about wine than tasting the wine yourself.

We always show a fundamental assessment of a wine. It is important to mention that (often) not every vintage is assessed, so if the evaluation of a newer vintage is not (yet) available, we will show the most recent one. You can see in the assessment which vintage it is, but certainly, with quality wines, rarely, an evaluation between a wine changes very much. A wine with 94 points can get 91 points for a year, but we rarely see that this suddenly only gets 87 points with none of the professional wine reviewers. It is also true that this assessment is subjective, and in any case, our advice is that a review gives a direction and tells for sure whether a wine is good or bad. It can, however, say less about whether you like the wine or not, so your observation is what counts, and the reviews are particularly supportive in your choice of the right wine.

That is also why we have an exclusive subscription with the Wine Advocate, Suckling, Penin, and Winespectator, which entitles us to show the integral review text of several wines. This way, you as a customer can more easily find the perfect fit.