The world’s most influential wine critic talks about his influence and Hong Kong’s destiny as a world wine center
WHEN A YOUNG LAWYER in Maryland started writing a wine newsletter in the early 1980s, it created hardly a ripple in the wine world. But over the years, Robert Parker has emerged as the world’s most influential wine critic. Today, it’s not ripples he creates, but waves. If “Big Bob” upgrades a wine score in his bi-monthly Wine Advocate, the price of that wine can double within hours. When he failed to appear at the Bordeaux tastings in 2002, proprietors marked down prices because they knew sales would slump without his imprimatur. Few people doubt that Parker has a phenomenal ability to taste wine, but many fear the spread of “Parkerized” wines: fruit-driven, highly extracted wines, often with a lot of oak. It is true that Parker often gives high scores to such “fruit bombs,” but what frustrates him is the way other critics ignore the positive impact he has had on improving the general quality of wine making. His contribution to the wine world has been recognized by France, which awarded him an Officier of the Legion d’Honneur.
Parker was the first major critic to question the most prestigious of wines, such as Château Margaux and Château Lafite-Rothschild, when they failed to deliver over long periods in the 1960s and 1970s. But still, there are those who worry about the power he has to influence wine-making styles, especially in areas such as Bordeaux’s Saint-Èmilion, where many “garage wine makers” follow the Parker philosophy to extremes.
Few prominent wine makers dare to voice their concerns publicly for fear of falling out with Parker, but one who has is Christian Moueix, owner of the fabled Château Pétrus, which even in these financially dire times still sells for upwards of HK$30,000 a bottle. He has been quoted as saying “Bob is a big, dramatic man, with big, dramatic tastes.” He accused him of preferring wines that are inky and black, rather than merely red, and concluded, “I have known him for 20 years, but I will no longer read what he writes. He wants to lead us down a path to destruction.”
Such criticisms haven’t blunted Parker’s influence. Last May, he was guest of honor at a special dinner held on the Ju Yong Guan section of the Great Wall, near Beijing. He pronounced it “one of the greatest events of my life” and has since appointed a specialist to write regularly about wine in Asia on his website www.erobertparker.com.
POWER’s Contributing Editor Bruce Palling caught up with Parker at his home in Maryland to hear his views about his influence and wine in the Asian markets.
Why do you think there has been such a dramatic increase in fine wine purchase/consumption in Asia? Is it purely because of the growing affluence of the region?
My inclination is that like any civilized country that begins to develop a middle class and an increasing affluence throughout the country, there is a proportional increase in interest in the more civilized cultural things such as fine cuisine and fine wine. Certainly the ancient cultures of Asian countries have always favored interest in things of great hedonism and complexity, with wine amongst them. The respect that these cultures have for the wine cultures of Europe is to be expected. I also believe that in Asian cultures, which are basically tea cultures, the burgeoning consumption of red wine is easy to understand (red being the symbolic color of good fortune for a start). And the fact that young red wines often have a considerable amount of tannin, which is also found in the slight astringency in high-quality tea, and the fact that these beverages also have low-to-modest amounts of alcohol. This certainly contributes to the considerable interest in fine wine in Asia. Also they are very fashionable and alluring because they do work well with the cuisines of the region.
What about your own interest and knowledge in the region? You seem to have had a very positive reaction after a recent visit to China.
I am a beginner for sure, but obviously I was a student of history in college and was always fascinated by the extraordinary cultures of most Asian countries, especially China. It was one of the dreams of my life to visit the Great Wall since I was a child. The opportunity to visit it and also to host a wine tasting there has to be one of the highlights of my life. The appointment of [Singapore-based American] Lisa Perrotti-Brown [holder of a prestigious Master of Wine (MW) degree] to cover the Asian wine scene is part of a deliberate strategic policy to concentrate on the Asian marketplace. I have been very impressed with the passionate interest in Korea, Japan and China, and I expect this will only continue. The level of education continues to grow at a very rapid rate. And demand for consumer-based information and education is present. I think I would love to very much be a part of this ongoing educational effort and become part of the legacy of wine consumerism in all these countries. Lisa will play an increasing important role in this and I certainly hope that I do too. I am a great fan of the countries, their cultures and their cuisines.
Do you think Hong Kong has the potential to become one of the “Big Three” wine sales centers now they have abolished sales tax?
I think this is inevitable and I would expect some other regions in Asia to also become tax-free centers to try and compete with Hong Kong. There is no question that the wine marketplace is moving in the direction of Hong Kong and Asia and away from the traditional places such as London and New York. Not that these two centers won’t still be important, but I do think that Hong Kong will be the future nexus of the fine wine world.
How do you respond to the accusation that your individual taste has influenced the way wine is actually made in certain regions? That is, going all out for the “Parker style” for big point scores?
I think this is a very simplistic explanation of my wine writing and evaluations. I try and recognize what each wine region does well, which of course includes many different styles. One of my favorite wines in the world remains Château Haut-Brion, which is of course a very elegant style of wine. However, I do believe that if we are talking about Barossa Shiraz from Australia, the best wines there tend to be relatively powerful, blockbuster, heavier style of wines and that’s what they do best. It is not that they are incapable of making very delicate wines, but it is much more difficult to make a delicate wine in that region than a big wine. The same applies to many areas of California. I think that in France, the best wines are elegant wines and this applies in Bordeaux, although in Bordeaux there is such a diversity of styles – from the fruitier wines of Saint-Émilion’s or Pomerol to the more structured tannic styles of Cabernet Sauvignon wines of the northern Médoc. I just think that this is a very false accusation and it is one that I think reflects people trying to reach a black-and-white answer about a well-known critic without really trying to understand the nuances and subtleties of his work.
Do you think your taste for certain wines has evolved or changed in the past few years?
No, not at all.
Which New World regions are you most excited or interested in?
I do believe that Argentina, especially for the Malbec grape, is one of the most exciting areas in the world. I am also quite excited about Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. I am excited by Pinot Noir and Rhone Ranger style wines from the California central coast; Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the coastal regions of Somona County in Northern California. As far as Western Europe, southern France continues to be a very exciting region, as does Spain, which is a giant in terms of wine. The qualitative is now waking up to qualitative. Southern Italy is very exciting because so many indigenous varietals such as Aglianico, Piedirosso and Negroamoro are now being made into very fine wines. The entire mentality that used to be based on large cooperatives is being changed to a more diverse estate model and quality-oriented movement.
Are you very concerned at the prospect of global warming forever altering the style of many of the existing great wines of the world?
There seems to be substantial evidence that global warming does exist, but we certainly haven’t seen that in most of the great viticulture areas in the past few years. If you just take France as an example, the only two warmer than normal vintages this century have been 2000 and 2003. Every other vintage, including the most recent one [2008], has been colder than normal. Certainly, if global warming becomes entrenched in the viticultural regions of Western Europe, we will see a change in style, which would be tragic. However, at present it is entirely premature to say that it is having much of an effect on the style of the world’s wines.
If you ever had to contemplate the “dying wish of a cellar master,” which wine would you most like to be the last to pass your lips?
That’s probably the hardest question of all to answer, as there are so many great wines from all over the world that you would love to taste again in that last moment. I would probably end up in France because that is where I learnt virtually everything I know about wine. It would probably be a great Bordeaux or a Rhone – the two areas that tend to inspire and excite me the most. I will leave it at that – certainly one wine from either of these regions would be more than sufficient.
How do you rate the 2005 Bordeaux vintage compared with other great classic ones, such as 2000, 1990 and 1982? Do you expect to ever see a greater vintage than 2005 in your lifetime?
The reason that I think the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is the greatest vintage I have tasted in terms of being a great classic one is that there were more great wines in that vintage than I have every seen before – compared with say 2000 and 1990; and certainly more than in 1982.
The actual factors that contributed to the greatness of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage were modest yields, no vineyard diseases and a cooler than average growing season but summer drought, which caused very high concentrations. The cooler than normal temperatures gave the wines very powerful aromatics. Moreover, the harvest in September and early October was deluge free and, to cap it off, the wine was easy to vinify. What we have seen since I first pronounced that 1982 was a great vintage, there were probably only 35 to 40 great wines that fully exploited their vineyards and terroirs, which seemed quite a lot and certainly more than in 1961, which as you know is another great classic vintage.
In 1990, there were probably 100 great wines produced; in 2000, 150; whereas in 2005 the total number of wines I scored 90 points or more was close to 250. This reflects the worldwide competition and that Bordeaux remains the epicenter for classic wines of great longevity and great elegance. The wine estates are investing significantly in their vineyards and their wine-making facilities and recognizing that competition exists abroad.
If history proves anything, as long as the world economy is prepared to support the production of high-quality wine, and the financial well-being of the estates of Bordeaux remains viable, there will be a greater vintage in my lifetime. Of course it hasn’t happened yet.
Do you expect to retire in the coming decade?
Well, I think that 10 years from now I will probably be doing less than I am doing today. I think it is really hard – as long as you can still smell and taste and have the passion and energy to work – to even contemplate retirement. This has been an incredibly exciting 30 years I have spent in this field. I have loved every moment of it and the fact that with each new vintage it’s like a student going back to school again. It keeps you energized and invigorated. I now have an entire team that helps cover the world of wines, which has gotten so much more complex, and I am trying to manage my time better so that I can still concentrate on the three areas that I do now, which is Bordeaux, the Rhone Valley of France and, of course, California.
