Interview with Robert Parker Jr.

The Press Democrat's Savor section ran an interesting Interview with Robert Parker a couple of days ago.

Robert Parker Jr. is arguably one of the world's most powerful wine critics who regularly changes a wine's fate with his score. Based in Monkton, Md., he publishes the bi-monthly "The Wine Advocate," rating high-end collectible wine based on his famous 100-point scale and has a web site, eRobertParker.com. This picture is from the site:

On the hottest new regions in California:

There are two regions with immense potential that are just beginning to be exploited. One is the Sonoma Coast, where a bevy of world-class pinot noirs and chardonnays are being made that are every bit as complex and complete as the greatest wines from France. The other area that is producing exceptionally interesting wines that have not yet received much press is the Anderson Valley. However, there is no shortage of great wines in any Northern California appellation. It's just that these two particular areas are less well known by mainstream consumers than some of the blue chip appellations, such as Oakville, Stag's Leap, or Russian River.

On the evolution of California wine:

California wines continue to evolve, and I believe in 30 to 40 years, the decade of the '90s will be looked upon by historians as the Golden Age, when California began to understand its full potential. The obsession with technically sterile/innocuous wines with "perfect lab numbers" that was so evident in the '80s has been replaced by a new generation that recognizes that 90 percent of the quality is in the vineyard, not in the winery. One of the advantages of the phylloxera epidemic that resulted in so much replanting in Northern California was that producers were able to identify lower-vigor rootstocks and the proper clonal material for planting in their soils and microclimates. This will all create better and more complex California wines. In the '90s, we saw wines that were truer, more concentrated expressions of their vineyard sites. This is to be applauded. In short, wines are not so much "processed," "sculptured," or "made" today, but are much more a reflection of their varietal and vintage characteristics.

If you want to more information on the importance and contributions, and controversy behind Robert Parker Jr, check out:

• The Million Dollar Nose by William Langewiesche (Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 2000)


• Interviewed by Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose Show, 7/26/1999)