eRobertParker

There is no one more famous in the world of wine criticism than Robert M. Parker Jr., ex Maryland lawyer and inventor of the "100-point system" for rating wine. For decades Parker has produced the subscription-only Wine Advocate magazine in print, dedicated to reviewing and rating fine wines. Like the magazine, this new extended web version carries no advertising in an effort to demonstrate its independence.

Parker is a guru for many, many wine lovers, who follow his recommendations to the letter, and eagerly await each new issue of the Wine Advocate to snap up the top scoring wines before their prices inevitably rise in the market; such is his influence.

eRobertParker turns hundreds of back-issues of the print magazine into a huge, searchable archive and adds in additional features exclusive to the online version. A limited amount of information is available free, but to access the meat of the site requires a subscription of $99 for one year, which is payable online.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Free Trial Area is where you can sign up for a time- and usage-limited free trial of the subscription-only facilities. Very useful for making up your mind if this is for you.

Find Wines is the subscription-only raison d'être of this site; over 50,000 tasting notes. Find a wine either by searching for it by name, or via the vintage chart. The latter shows scores and maturity for 28 regions over the past 30 years. However, it is also a powerful querying tool: click on any cell from the matrix and a comprehensive list of wines reviewed from that region and vintage is displayed. Using either method, if Parker has tasted the wine several times, you will see all the notes in chronological order of tasting. Find it Online! Appears as an icon alongside most reviews. A click brings up a list of retailers around the world who stock that wine, along with prices

Hedonist's Gazette is an online exclusive for subscribers only. It is ‘a chronicle of the gustatory experiences of our two wine reviewers - Bob Parker and Pierre Rovani'. This occasional series affords a glimpse of Parker and his assistant Rovani ‘at home', cracking open bottles from their own cellars.

Mark Squires Bulletin Board is a discussion forum moderated by Mark Squires. Squires ran this US-centred discussion board independently for many years, but was "taken over" by eRobertParker in 2002 when the latter site launched. It plays host to a very active and knowledgeable gang of wine lovers, though conversation is a little US dominated.