The world’s most influential wine writer, US critic Robert Parker, has commenced an action that could spark a tidal wave of similar activity around the planet. Referring to ‘cynical abuse’ of his 100-point scoring system, Parker has effectively told the retail and distribution trade that if his scores are quoted for commercial purposes, perpetrators could be subject to legal action. Parker is especially concerned that only the high-range ratings he gives to wines are used in the trade to promote wine sales, especially when his scores are attached to merchants’ own tasting notes. Reports suggest that as a former lawyer, Parker has briefed a legal team to address the issue. According the website just-drinks.com, merchants in the US and UK are being put under the microscope. This warning comes shortly before Robert Parker’s own wine newsletter The Wine Advocate goes live on the web. just-drinks.com says that ‘(Parker’s) scores are used ubiquitously with flagrant disregard to his own agenda in order to influence sales’ and that the action is being initiated ‘to protect the integrity and value of data held in the archive’.
