Such opinion is wrong, and the most valid argument is the example of Robert Parker considered as the #1 taster in the world, a legendary person, the most influential critic, the enthusiast of the wine market, lawmaker as well as wine dictator and tyrannous. Many people would be surprised to know that the authority of the wine world is a son of an American farmer worked for years in a small American town and till 20 years didn't think to come into the world of wine.

Robert Parker was born in Baltimore, Maryland the 23 of July 1947. Graduated from Maryland University, than – juridical Academy, a wine tasting genius-to-be worked as a lawyer for 10 years and ten years more as an assistant of the chief consultant of a small credit bank in Baltimore He changed his mind in 1968 when his best friend convinced him to go to France where a famous student revolt was starting. That was the time of International and red flags in Paris, and in Alsace twenty-years old American first tasted French wine. They say that since that the heart of Robert Parker belongs to wine.

After coming back home Robert Parker without leaving law practice start collecting books about wine and studying accurately production process and wine-making, tasting, reading archives to find out the best vintages in different countries of the world. He looked for any information about qualified wines and realized that there is almost no such information, and the one he finds is not too good and complete. That is how he came to a decision to fill the gap by creating a wine guide.

In 1975 in Parkton, Maryland the first number of hie magazine called by the author, famous for its sens of humor The Wine Advocate. By the way a thin brochure without almost any illustrations, printed on simple paper in a small edition couldn't be even called a magazine. However “The Wine Advocate” was remarked very soon by several significant wine traders, who found at its gray pages what they had been looking for a long time. The reason of the success of the magazine is simple – describing wine with reasonable correspondence price/quality, Parker was very laconic, brief and competent, paying attention not to big names on the label, but real advantages of wine.

Other magazines described wine with a pompous language which didn't have much common with perceptions of tasting concrete wine and more to poetry. Parker didn't accept such a style he wanted to give to his readers a possibility to follow their perceptions using special terms, so all readers could understand him. But a real particularity of Parker comparing with other critics was an unruffled honesty of his descriptions of tasted wine, when other publishers sang dithyrambs to those who presented wine and paid for critical articles, so to find out what is true or false was hard. Parker in his turn, without hearing authorities just told his opinion and gave pieces of advise to producers of wine like work more on vineyard or on technology to improve the quality of wine.

In “The Wine Advocate” Parker proposed a new system of wine evaluation to let readers understand better his descriptions. As basis American system of school note was taken, but at place of letters, he used numbers at a 100 points scale where 50 meant an awful wine, impossible to drink and 100 – a real chef-d'ouevre All existing wine press was laughing on him but today this system dominates in the majority of editions in the world. It helped to lots of wine-lovers bored by esoteric descriptions of wine to understand easier the level of quality of wine, for example with rate of 93 to 100. In a year quantity of subscribers of “The Wine Advocate” was more than 600.

Real worldwide recognition Robert Parker received in 1982 while visiting Bordeaux for a regular Trade fair gathering the most important tasters of the Old and New World. Young Parker came their also. 1982 was very dry in Bordeaux and vineyards had lots of problems till harvesting.

Grapes were ripe and sweet, but the experts said that the wine of the vintage would not age due to low acidity which was considered as the main factor for wine potential. All authorities of wine experts declared that the vintage has nothing common with strict wine of Bordeaux, the wines were “too exotic” full bodied, with low acidity and bright fruity tones. They were not “classical” at all, familiar for Bordeaux and were devaluated as they would not develop in Bordeaux style while aging. The only happy voice given for the wine of the vintage which was later called great, was the voice of young Parker.

Impressed by the quality of young wine he addressed to his archives where he registered the weather conditions of the great Bordeaux vintages, and saw that they happened after dry summers. Robert Parker told to his readers to buy wine as much and as soon as they can before the price goes up, what would absolutely happen when wine-makers understand what a marvel harvest they had gathered. Those who followed the advise made good money on it. Parkers reputation became unachievable and he became one of the leading wine critics in the world. Parker stayed over the glory trial and continued his journalist activity as well as started writing books, the first one was «Bordeaux» in 1985, then - «Burgundy», «The Wines of the Rhone Valley», «Wines Buyer’s Guide» and some more. Every book of Parker became worldwide best-seller, translated to all main languages of the world, was reedited several times.

Robert Parker never hided his special attitude to French wine preferring them to all others. There is no reason to doubt in his objectivity but grace to Parker French wine took their position in the world market as model, his unintentional services to France are so evident that in 1995 Robert Parker became a honor citizen of Rouan, the most significant wine province of France. The president of France Francois Mitterrand gave him the title of «Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Merite».

In 1999 another President of France Jacques Chirac at an official ceremony in the Palace of Elysee gave to Parker the title of «Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur» adding that “Robert Parker is the most influential and consistent critic of french wine in the world”. Apropos both titles are specially created to give them to people who got the highest recognition in France. Robert Parker is the only foreigner who got president honor twice. That is the way of Robert Parker to glory and worldwide acceptation. He doesn't buy or sell, not advertising wines. He is wine critic, living in Monkton, Maryland, tasting wines and writing about them, giving them rates according to created himself system of 100 points monthly in the report in “The Wine Advocate”.

But he is not just a critic, but the most influential wine critic in the world. There is no many people who would doubt that he came to this not grace to his developed organs of perception, but mostly due to persistence, single-mindedness and honesty multiplied to titanic hardworking. Robert Parker is a model of genius create as 10% of talent and 90% of work. Remarkable is the fact that the creator of the system is anxious about its effect, speaking about “chase for rates”: “I am worried of the cult of consumption especially at the retail level oriented to the high rates. Points are meaningless without the reasons of why I gave them”. By this phrase the author accepts that his evaluation is subjective. No one except himself can find out the difference between 97 and 98 points given to a wine. But Parker isn't an institute and even not a tasting committee, he is a human being with his defaults and preferences. It is known that he likes rich, intensive, pompous wines. And many wine-makers looking for his high points have to loose their individuality, as result there is lack of fine, full of secret charm wines.

So, 100-points system of Robert Parker vs Russian 10-points evaluation system is not scientific and academic, but commercial and personal. No idea to dispute Parkers talent as professional, a person with well developed tasting abilities, and outstanding memory of perceptions, it's necessary to accept that his system has some disadvantages including personal character of the results.