Lion in Winter: Robert M. Parker Jr. Addresses Wine Writers

(HP) - Robert M. Parker Jr. has been the world's preeminent wine critic and tastemaker for decades.

Parker had a huge impact on wine criticism and wine education over the 30 years since he came to national and international prominence. Parker published widely read books and is responsible for the influential 100-point rating scale, as well as the success of many now important wineries, from Bordeaux and the Rhone to Napa and Paso Robles.

Over the last few years, however, he and the publication he founded, The Wine Advocate (TWA), have suffered setbacks. Controversies over seeming ethical lapses by a couple of TWA writers led to talk of scandal and the dismissal of one of those writers. At the end of 2012, it was announced that Parker had sold a majority interest in TWA to Singapore investors. Shortly thereafter, one of his primary writers, Antonio Galloni, left the publication.

Parker has also suffered from severe back pain in recent years, which ultimately led to major surgery and a long recovery. Parker's often combative comments and harshly worded opinions have also drawn increasing fire from other critics and wine writers.

A study last fall by Wine Opinions showed TWA having lost significant ground as an influencer of "high frequency wine drinkers" in the U.S., coming in third in terms of influential publications, well below Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast.

Parker's appearance as the keynote speaker at the annual Professional Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood in St. Helena last week, his first ever such address to a large group of fellow wine writers, was therefore a much anticipated event.