Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th Edition: The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Vintages, Prices, and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions (Hardcover)

by Robert M. Parker (Author)
Key Phrases: Côte Rôtie, Côtes du Rhône, vintage port, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Parker, a major force in the wine world, has both avid fans and legions who despise him. The French government has made him a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and Italy has made him a Commander in the Order of Merit, so he does know wine. The seventh edition of his buyer’s guide has been fully revised and updated. Parker’s introduction notes the growth of the wine industry and the increasing popularity of wine. He discusses the techniques of winemaking and explains his rating system. He also gives advice about buying and storing wine as well as serving it and pairing it with food. A discussion of “the dark side of wine” warns readers about things that winemakers may do to ruin wine, inflated prices in restaurants, wine fraud, and other “unspeakable practices.” Parker also offers his opinion on what constitutes great wine and provides a reading list of useful books on the subject. The main part of the book is the guide itself, with sections for western Europe, North America, and “The Best of the Rest” (Argentina, Australia, central Europe, Israel, New Zealand, and South America). These sections are divided alphabetically by country or region, with further divisions in the sections for France and Italy. Each treatment begins with a map and an article about the area’s wines, followed by ratings for the best wine growers and producers and an alphabetical list of wineries with vintage ratings and brief commentaries. In the interests of space, the specific tasting notes found in earlier editions have been eliminated. The index helps readers find information on specific wineries. This is a good resource for wine collections in public libraries. --Barbara Bibel

Product Description
Featuring a fresh layout, revised maps, and more detail than ever before, the eagerly anticipated seventh edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide offers collectors and amateurs alike the ultimate resource to the world's best wines. In every way, this edition bears out Parker's stated goal: "To make you a more formidable, more confident wine buyer by providing you with sufficient insider's information to permit the wisest possible choice when you make a wine-buying decision."

Understanding that buyers on every level appreciate a good deal, Parker separates overvalued bottles from undervalued, with wine prices instantly shifting according to his evaluations. Indifferent to the wine's pedigree, Parker's eminent 100-point rating system allows for independent, consumer-oriented, inside information.

The latest edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide includes expanded information on Spain, Portugal, Germany, Australia, Argentina, and Chile, as well as new sections on Israel and Central Europe. As in his previous editions, Parker provides the reassurance of a simple number rating, predictions for future buying potential, and practical overviews of regions and grapes. Altogether, an indispensable resource from the man the Los Angeles Times calls "the most powerful critic of any kind."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1536 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 7 edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074327198X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743271981
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #191,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars All Numbers No Notes, October 23, 2008

By	Robert M. Foster (San Diego) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th Edition: The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Vintages, Prices, and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions (Paperback)

Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, Robert M. Parker, Jr., Simon and Schuster, New York, 2008, 1513 pages, softback, $35. Four pounds of numbers. For $35 you get pages and pages filled with no specific wine descriptions, just lists and lists of the numerical score on the one hundred point scale. I don't get it. For years whenever the 100 point scale has been debated Parker has always responded that a reader should never just rely on the number he gives to a wine. The reader must also consider the written evaluation of the wine. Indeed he makes this same point in the introduction to this work. "However, it is also vital to consider the description of the wine's style, personality and potential." If it is "vital" why have all of these descriptions been stripped out this book? All that the author provides is the score and a window of drinkability. Other than some general comments about the winery as a whole, there are no specific comments about any of the wines. So a wine gets a score of 94 but will it go well with duck confit? No guidance is given at all. The reader deserves far more.


Given that Parker is the most influential wine critic in the world, I would have thought that before making derogatory remarks about a wine producer, he would have done extensive detailed research about the wines. Not so. Parker takes a swipe at the wines of Kosta-Browne stating that, "I find them somewhat superficial and overripe." (Pages 1194) Here is a winery that made its reputation on small lots of Sonoma County Pinot Noir. But Parker only lists scores on two pinots, both from the Central Coast, not Sonoma County. I thought that perhaps other Kosta Browne wines sourced from Sonoma grapes might have been tasted but dropped from this work because of space limitations. But when one goes to the Parker's web site, the only tasting notes are on these same two Central Coast pinots. Wouldn't you think a powerful critic is under an ethical obligation to taste all, or most, of the wines from a producer (especially their best wines) before publicly disparaging them?


To be fair, I really liked the section of the book that presents an annotated bibliography of wine books. Thankfully the books get more than just a naked numerical rating.
Parker afficionados will probably adore this work from their guru. I find it frustrating and missing key components. Not Recommended.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing compendium that reinvents the wine buyer guide, September 28, 2008

By	John B. Woodward III (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide Nº 7 is an astonishing compendium on wine written by the world's foremost wine critic in concert with his entire new Wine Advocate team. The Guide covers every wine region of any consequence on the planet, and includes a bit of history, a comprehensive survey of the wines of each area, discussion and ratings of all the relevant producers in each region, and poignant essays that cut to the heart of all the major contemporary issues of all of these regions. There is no other comparable work with the comprehensive coverage, the insightful commentary, and the ratings of thousands of wines from recent vintages that this seventh edition of Parker's popular guide provides.

By leaving out the detailed individual tasting notes of previous editions, probably to keep it at a slim 1513 pages, this book has reinvented the consumer wine guide yet again. It now begs to be read cover to cover (it really does, and I did), rather than be used simply to look up a favored wine or a favorite region, though it still works perfectly for the quick pre-purchase look-up: all the scores for wines of recent vintages are there. The detailed tasting notes can readily be found on Parker's website, though it requires a subscription (which is well worth it for everything else going on there nowadays), but curiously, they aren't even missed. The unencumbered flow of text and lists has completely re-energized the Guide. It facilitates the enthusiast's quest for quick answers about a wine or region, as well as quenching even the most insatiable thirst for all details vinous, including insider information about winemakers and their winemaking approaches, and a thorough, candid, and unbiased read of what's good, what's great, and what's not.

Parker's essays on all matters of wine in his forty page introduction, and David Schildknecht's extensive essays on Alsace, Austria, Burgundy, and Germany are worth the book's tariff alone. Then add the insights and critical assessments by the new members of his team that includes Dr. Jay Miller on Spain, Australia, South America, Washington, and Oregon; Antonio Galloni on Italy; Mark Squires on Portugal and the wines of Israel; the indefatigable and completely British Neal Martin on New Zealand and South Africa; and of course, the master himself on Bordeaux, the Rhone, and California wine, and the benchmark for wine writing has been raised to new heights. And I've left out many other regions covered. This wine buyer's guide not only meets the need for every wine buyer from the occasional purchaser to the obsessed enthusiast, it exceeds all previous expectations of the genre. And Parker invented the genre.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mostly just a summary of existing published info, June 28, 2009

By	Silence Dogood "o-o-o-" (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th Edition: The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Vintages, Prices, and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions (Paperback)

Mostly this book is just a synopsis of the latest point ratings and a summary on the wine producers. As noted by others, there aren't actually reviews for each wine, so you're left to buy a wine based simply on the "Parker Points" awarded. The introductory portion is merely a repeat of past books.

To me the best parts were the region summaries of the Loire, Germany, and Burgundy (which I believe were all produced by David Schildknecht). I've heard fans of Italian wines also laude Galloni's summary of Italy.

It's also worth noting that although Parker has indicated that most (60%) wines are purchased and "tasted blind when possible", recent conversations on his online forum indicate that he apparently may not follow these policies any longer, leading me to question what really is his stance on blind tasting and critical independence.