Bordeaux: A Comprehensive Guide to the Wines Produced from 1961 to 1997 by Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Hardcover 

1998, 3rd printing

When Robert M. Parker Jr.’s Bordeaux was first published in 1985, it was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by such legendary authorities as Hugh Johnson and Michael Broadbent. Time, Newsweek, Business Week, Esquire, and People magazines soon joined in the praise, and the book became a huge commercial and critical success. In England, it won the prestigious Glenfiddich award. Since that time, Parker has published eight other books for wine lovers, many of which have received critical awards—Burgundy, The Wines of the Rhône Valley and Provence, four editions of the Wine Buyer’s Guide, The Wines of the Rhône Valley, and an updated edition of Bordeaux in 1991— as well as his highly respected newsletter, The Wine Advocate, and bi-monthly columns in Food & Wine magazine. With each book, his audience has expanded to the point where not only American wine consumers but also those in France, England, Japan, Sweden, and Germany have quickly learned to trust his palate.

In 1995, Parker became the first American in the wine field to receive La Croix du Chevalier de l’Ordre Nationale du Mérite (The Cross of the Knight of the National Order of Merit), one of France’s two highest honors, conferred on him directly by President François Mitterrand. In 1998, he won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional. Clearly, it can be said that Robert Parker is America’s foremost wine professional. With this third edition of the classic that launched him, Parker strives to maintain his unprecedented independence, objectivity, clarity, and enthusiasm in reporting on the vintages of Bordeaux and provides the prodigious comprehensiveness for which he is known. Not only has he added tastings for the vintages in the intervening years between this and the last edition but he has also retasted and reevaluated many earlier vintages. His accessible and direct style welcomes both the seasoned wine collector and the eager beginner to the pleasures of fine wine and France’s most illustrious châteaux. Organized by appellation, Bordeaux moves alphabetically from one producer to the next, providing essential information and an overview of the property and its owners, listing each vintage, and including numerical ratings and detailed tasting notes of most of that chateau’s wines for the past thirty-seven years. At the end of each tasting note, Parker estimates the “anticipated maturity”—the range of time when the wine should peak in flavor and balance—and each entry concludes with a summary of the chateau’s older vintages. Throughout these extensive commentaries and tasting notes, there is never a doubt that this is the most complete consumer’s guide to the wines of Bordeaux ever written. Who is making Bordeaux’s best and worst wines? What has a specific château’s track record been over the last thirty or forty years? What châteaux are overrated and overpriced? Which are underrated or underpriced? Always with an eye toward the consumer, Parker distinguishes true value from perceived value. While the bulk of the book is given over to these ratings, the opening and closing chapters of the book provide readers with a true sense of the changes in the region and its vintages. Who most influences winemaking styles? What role does technology play in modern wine production? What impact do second labels have on the quality of the first?

Parker also lovingly describes the growing conditions in the region year by year, spending considerable time discussing the 1995 vintage, which he terms “the most consistently top-notch vintage since 1990.” In addition to this, Parker reassesses the Bordeaux Classifications, the effects of the soil on the grapes, and the different winemaking processes. He then rounds out this incredible volume with a User’s Guide to Bordeaux Wines, practical travel and dining information for wine-touring trips, a complete glossary of terminology, and a quick reference index of the entire book. As the first book to discuss the 1995, 1996, and 1997 vintages in detail—vintages that are being hailed as the Best of the Century—the third edition of Bordeaux is the best tool to use in making both purchasing and consuming decisions. Bordeaux provides all the information today’s consumer needs in order to select the perfect bottle.