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Learn to COOK - Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th Edition: The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Vintages, Prices, and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All ... Wine Regions (Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide)
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List Price: $35.00
Our Price: $23.10
Your Save: $ 11.90 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.22
EAN: 9780743271998
ISBN: 0743271998
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 1536
Publication Date: 2008-10-07
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Editorial Reviews:
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Featuring a fresh layout, revised maps, and more detail than ever before, the eagerly anticipated seventh edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide offers collectors and amateurs alike the ultimate resource to the world's best wines. In every way, this edition bears out Parker's stated goal: "To make you a more formidable, more confident wine buyer by providing you with sufficient insider's information to permit the wisest possible choice when you make a wine-buying decision." Understanding that buyers on every level appreciate a good deal, Parker separates overvalued bottles from undervalued, with wine prices instantly shifting according to his evaluations. Indifferent to the wine's pedigree, Parker's eminent 100-point rating system allows for independent, consumer-oriented, inside information. The latest edition of Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide includes expanded information on Spain, Portugal, Germany, Australia, Argentina, and Chile, as well as new sections on Israel and Central Europe. As in his previous editions, Parker provides the reassurance of a simple number rating, predictions for future buying potential, and practical overviews of regions and grapes. Altogether, an indispensable resource from the man the Los Angeles Times calls "the most powerful critic of any kind."
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Parker Buying Guide Yet
Comment: I've read and still have every Parker Wine Buyer's Guide since the first edition back in the 1980's. That first one will always be special for me because it was a gift from my wife and, more than any other book, it was my introduction to fine wine (and to Parker, for that matter). As my interest in wine and my cellar have grown so has the Wine Buyer's Guide. That first edition was 731 pages (in paperback) and this newest one is 1513 in hardback.
One can now accurately say the book covers virtually the entire world of wine. With contributions by Parker and by the entire team he's assembled at The Wine Advocate, there are now chapters on the major South American producing countries, Central Europe, Israel and South Africa. Traditional regions, such as Champagne, that got "token" coverage in the first edition (1.5 pages of general information on the region followed by tasting notes on recent vintages) now get extensive coverage (12 fact filled pages on the region followed by 10 pages of commentary on the best producers).
I remember reading the first edition from cover to cover over the Christmas - New Year holiday. This latest edition might well take me an entire year!
In fact, to call it a "guide" now really approaches a misnomer. This is really a comprehensive treatise on wine, the countries and regions that produce it and the best producers that populate those regions.
What's missing? Well, in prior editions, tasting notes have been provided for recent vintages of many of the wines. For the most part these are now just listings of recent vintages with their rating. I guess you can't have it all -- not if the book is to be held to a single, albeit large, volume and, at least for me, a two-volume "guide" is a bit of an enigma.
Is it a one book wine library? Not quite. But if you have room for only one wine book on your shelf and you're mostly after the facts it is probably the best choice out there.
Customer Rating:
Summary: delicious reading
Comment: A new Parker book is always something to look forward to , and this one doesn't let you down.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 7th edition
Comment: Much better than previose edition concerning France.More info about particular wines of each producer.Champagne chapter could be more consistant.New world chapters didn't took much energy from auther too.The big solid thick book about american wines
Customer Rating:
Summary: Scores, Brief Notes, Broad Coverage
Comment: Breathtakingly brief, in a good way, the majority of this guide is a line item list of offerings by vintage within winery, within region. Parker includes short notes on each winery, vintages as a whole, and points out relevant changes to wineries. He also provides some throwaway advice in the beginning of the book on storage, aging, and the like. The brief winery notes, typically a paragraph per, are worth the cost alone.
Parker's ratings and comments are useful to have even if you don't care for him, as they are firmly embedded in the wine criticism conversation at the top tier.
One has to ask if it's better to subscribe to Parker's online service, however. You will get all that's in this book and quite a bit more, plus it will be available to you with a mobile device at the store or restaurant. The cost, while more than this volume, is still relatively modest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: All Numbers No Notes
Comment: Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, Robert M. Parker, Jr., Simon and Schuster, New York, 2008, 1513 pages, softback, $35. Four pounds of numbers. For $35 you get pages and pages filled with no specific wine descriptions, just lists and lists of the numerical score on the one hundred point scale. I don't get it. For years whenever the 100 point scale has been debated Parker has always responded that a reader should never just rely on the number he gives to a wine. The reader must also consider the written evaluation of the wine. Indeed he makes this same point in the introduction to this work. "However, it is also vital to consider the description of the wine's style, personality and potential." If it is "vital" why have all of these descriptions been stripped out this book? All that the author provides is the score and a window of drinkability. Other than some general comments about the winery as a whole, there are no specific comments about any of the wines. So a wine gets a score of 94 but will it go well with duck confit? No guidance is given at all. The reader deserves far more.
Given that Parker is the most influential wine critic in the world, I would have thought that before making derogatory remarks about a wine producer, he would have done extensive detailed research about the wines. Not so. Parker takes a swipe at the wines of Kosta-Browne stating that, "I find them somewhat superficial and overripe." (Pages 1194) Here is a winery that made its reputation on small lots of Sonoma County Pinot Noir. But Parker only lists scores on two pinots, both from the Central Coast, not Sonoma County. I thought that perhaps other Kosta Browne wines sourced from Sonoma grapes might have been tasted but dropped from this work because of space limitations. But when one goes to the Parker's web site, the only tasting notes are on these same two Central Coast pinots. Wouldn't you think a powerful critic is under an ethical obligation to taste all, or most, of the wines from a producer (especially their best wines) before publicly disparaging them?
To be fair, I really liked the section of the book that presents an annotated bibliography of wine books. Thankfully the books get more than just a naked numerical rating.
Parker afficionados will probably adore this work from their guru. I find it frustrating and missing key components. Not Recommended.
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