Paperback
1635 pages
$47.50
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Recognized worldwide as one of the top wine authorities, Robert Parker lives and breathes wine. His assessments and knowledge carry weight with wine sellers and consumers alike some of who consider Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide their ’wine bible’.
In this revised and updated sixth edition, Parker rates a whopping 8,000 wines from around the world using his famed 100-point system. At a hefty 1635 pages, Parker’s reference may seem daunting except for fans and ultra keen oenophiles but it’s easy to use. From the introduction that sets things up and explains his rating system to his region-by-region look at the top producers and summaries of recent vintages to buying strategies and tasting notes, Parker delivers the goods straight up. Newcomers will appreciate Parker’s extensive tips on buying, storing and serving wine and food match ups. Don’t miss the sections where he lets us in on “The Wine World’s Biggest Lies” and the “Tongue-in-Cheek Guide to Understanding the Language of the Winemaker”.
While most of the book is oriented to Europe, especially the wines of France, it’s obvious that Parker’s great loves are old world wines but the rest of Europe gets its due, as do the wines of the North America and the Southern Hemisphere. Parker’s coverage of North America is excellent in his coverage of the wines of California, Oregon and Washington although he gives Canada and Mexico a miss in this edition.
Nice inclusions are his in-depth reviews of useful wine web sites and the excellent maps that pinpoint the world’s wine regions.
Reviewed by Judith Lane, wine writer |
