Parker, Robert M., Jr

(1947– ), extremely influential American wine critic whose most obvious contribution to the literature of wine has been the concept of applying numbers to wine. His scores, followed slavishly by some collectors and even more by investors, have a demonstrable effect on individual wine prices.

Robert Parker was born in farming country near Baltimore and both trained and worked as a lawyer there. He discovered wine at the age of 20 on his first trip to France. By the mid 1970s, at the height of active consumerism, Parker became frustrated by the lack of truly independent and reliable wine criticism, and began to think about launching his own consumer’s guide to wine buying.