Customer Reviews

Bordeaux: A Consumer's Guide to the World's Finest Wines

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I consider the latest iteration of Parker's Bordeaux book to be the best on the subject. While I do not agree with Parker or just about anyone else regarding the rating of Italian wines, Parker is right on target in his ratings for Bordeaux.

I find it interesting that Parker is a fan of the rich and opulent micro wines coming out of Pomerol and St. Emilion. There are strict Bordeaux traditionalists that don't care for these wines. I think they are great and usually agree with Parker. They simply add another dimension to the many styles of wine being made in the greatest wine producing area of the world.

Parker is extremely consistent and the only other taster that comes close is Stephen Tanzer. The Wine Spectator and James Suckling are pretty good, although I think they overrate too many wines in subpar vintages. Ironically, Spectator is not as big a fan of the decadent wines Parker likes from the right bank.

One caveat I have with the fourth addition is that useful tasting notes from some prior vintages for certain wines have been taken out and a handful of wines reviewed in the last version of the book are not even reviewed in this book. However, the book is still great if you're into Bordeaux.

Clive Coates's recent book on Bordeaux offers a good and interesting alternative, but it is not as complete nor does it have the depth of notes available from Parker.

I just received this book for Christmas and it is already dog-eared. When many people think of Bordeaux they think of stratospherically priced wines. Actually for every $400 bottle of Chateau Latour 2000, there is a wonderful $25 bottle by an unsung producer. $25 may not be cheap, but if drinks like a $50 one I'm pretty happy. This book helps me find those lesser-known producers.

While Robert Parker certainly heaps praise on the most famous wines when they are worthy, he does not hesitate to criticize them when they fall short. He constantly points the readers to great values.

The book is organized by region and then by chateau. For many of the chateaux there is a copious amount of information: some history of the producer, a list of the wine's component grapes, and detailed descriptions of significant vintages for the last ten years.. Be sure to read the introductory sections for Parker's take on how richness of flavor is attained (strict pruning of vines, letting the fruit ripen, abstaining from filtering) and for much encouraging news about Bordeaux wine today. For one thing, he says that while the price gap between First Growths and unclassifieds can be great, never has the quality gap been so narrow. Great news for us bargain hunters !

As with many books on wines, this one is rapidly becoming our of date in that it goes no further than 2001. This means resorting to Wine Advocate, a quartely publication which means that researching more recent vintages becomes laborious. An enquiry as to the fifth edition produced a "not anticipated" response. The age of this edition also means that the older vintages from 1982 are becoming of less interest as a good many of these wines, particularly at the cru borgeois end and others are less available than they once were. Can Mr Parker not be persuaded to let us know when the next edition is likely to be.

I've got three objections to what you may or may not find to be a terrific book.

One. Inherent subjectivity of taste. If you have the same taste as Parker, this book is great. What would be not to love? Parker highlights some great bargains, offers some "must-drink" wines (often not great bargains after Parker has praised them as such given how much he personally moves the market), and gives a very nice general history of each area. But the *wine* isn't 90 points, Parker's experience with the wine is a 90 point experience. Everyone is physiologically a little different. This is in no way like measuring something objectively in a physics experiment.

It's no secret that RP generally prefers bruisers of wines, but I think the more important point is really the drinking windows. I've found these to be pretty premature. I'm not alone here and I remember Parker on Charlie Rose talking about how he's come to love immature wines from tasting so many barrel samples! Understandable. This is not an ad hominem attack. Different strokes for different folks, but it's pretty lousy when you pull a cork on a $300 bottle of wine that's too young for your palate (95 Mouton, 99 Palmer... the list goes on. It's taken me a while to learn my lesson).

Two. How valid is the score? What's the difference between an 89 and a 90, anyway? An 89 and a 91? The scale starts at 50 and goes to 100, making point by point distinctions along the way that seem frivolous. I'll grant you I, too, like to score wines, but at the end of the day, all this stuff is is glorious, glorious fermented grape juice. It is not a multiple choice test. I don't sit down and rate my steak, "oh I say, that was a 93 point chateaubriand." What a joke! Sure, the Revue des Vins de France's 3 star system is a little coarse, as is perhaps Broadbent's 5 star system. But those quantitative scores are actually qualitative - they actually mean "poor" "ok" "good" etc.

Three. Reliability of scores. Parker tastes all of his wines in a very carefully controlled setting. I'll bet you don't (not like he does, anyway), and your experience of the wine will surely be different.

So why do I still think this book is worth buying? It's comprehensive and fairly cheap for what it is. I love reading the overviews of the different regions (although I will say that for that purpose, Stephen Brook's book is much better). Also, if you know how your taste compares to Parker's, in buying this book you'll have a comprehensive reference point for a lot of wines.

On cellartracker as "Englishman's Claret"

Recently I toured wineries in Bordeaux. Robert Parker's book is the indispensable guide to wineries in that region. He discusses each estate in detail and is quite frank in his reviews. He also recommended some hotels and restaurants, which proved to be excellent recommendations.

RP's new edition of Bordeaux gave me one impression. You have no choice but to buy it if you are really interested in Bordeaux wine. I have his Wine Buyer's Guide (6th Ed) and yet find this one irresistable when I first located it in a book shop.

I love this book. I keep going back to it and reading more. Goes into great details for ALL Bordeaux wines. A must have for the wine lover!!

What a book!! Everything you wanted to know about Bordeaux and more. A comprehnesive and stunning, detailed account of the major chateaux in Bordeaux (there are hundreds of them!!)

Detailed tasting notes, going back many vintages. it is an excellent reference guide on the wines in this area.

You just have to think "the lucky so and so"; getting to taste the great wines and the great vintages of this region. To be honest you have to marvel about how he manages to do it.

This is an excellent guide; this edition has included pictures of the labels with each Chateau that is reviewed. One might hope that a future edition would have them in colour rather than B&W. A minor carp!!

Parker's insight is penetrating, but he manages to maintain an epic perspective. Parker's passion for wine vertibly sparkles from every page. His views can be idiosyncratic and he is not afraid to critisized grand crus which no longer merit the title. But only a scholar with Parker's passion could amass this comprehensive resource. This book is full of history, reviews, vintage analysis and ratings of all the chateaux, whether grand cru classe or cru bourgeois. If you are casually interested in wine or not ready to start spending big money, then this will be too much information. Let's face it: Good Bordeaux is expensive, and the shear volume of Parker's resources will overwhelm the uncommitted. But if you are willing to invest the time and money, you could not start at a better place than Robert Parker's Bordeaux.

Anyone that enjoys good bordeaux need this book.
Excellent reference book.
A must have for bidders, wine collectors and wine buyers.
Extensive information of the best and not so good vintages and chateau's wines.
Love french wine from bordeaux you will love the book.
User friendly
Easy to read and search.
Excellent historical record of chateau's evolution.