Parker's Wine Bargains: The World's Best Wine Values Under $25

Parker's Wine Bargains: The World's Best Wine Values Under $25

by Robert M. Parker Jr.
Simon & Schuster, 512 pp., $17.99 (paper)

If you've ever used a 100-point ranking scale for wine, you can say a quiet word of thanks to its inventor, wine critic Robert Parker. While thousands of winemakers whose wines score 89 or lower curse his name, nearly all of those with wines scoring more than 90 bless him. For more than 30 years, he's operated with the type of self-assured zeal usually reserved for a religious zealot, except, ironically, he's been a crusader for wine and on the side of lusty sensuousness.

One sure way to sell your $1,000-a-bottle wine is by having a rave review from Parker. For that reason, Parker has every expensive wine on earth slung his way, something reflected in the magazine The Wine Advocate, where the average price seems to be unobtainable.

That's why it's such a pleasure to see him slumming it with the rest of us with his new book on wines priced at less than $25. Instead of wasting time going over Wine 101, Parker and a few of his Advocate contributors charge straight into telling us their favorite budget wines by country. Best of all are eight pages in the back of the book with a list of the best of the best, separated by color and density: Every wine on Parker's short list is worth trying at least once.