日前，美国知名酒评机构《葡萄酒倡导者》（Wine Advocate）主编 Lisa Perrotti-Brown发长文称，“世界头号酒评家”罗伯特·帕克（Robert Parker）已于5月16日正式退休，并封笔停止酒评工作。
Lisa在其文章中亲切的称帕克为：现代酒评界之父、《葡萄酒倡导者》的创始人，以及她本人最重要的导师、一个亲爱的朋友。言辞深切令人动容。
相信很多人一定会说，Parker不是早两年就已经“退休”了吗？不是的，彼时他只是宣布卸任《葡萄酒倡导者》主编一职，作为这份杂志的创办人，他仍保留管理者的职位，如今才是真正的退休。
《葡萄酒倡导者》由帕克在1967年创建，在美国上大学期间，他为了追自己的法国女朋友特意前往法国度假，后来这位女朋友成为了他的太太。
在法国度假期间，他不仅成功把女朋友追到手，还在旅途中爱上了葡萄酒。1960年中期，帕克生发了创建一个酒评机构的想法，但他的家人和朋友都劝他成为一名律师，不鼓励他冒险。1973年，帕克从马里兰大学法学院毕业，作为一名执业律师加入了马里兰州巴尔的摩市的一家公司。但他的心已经被葡萄酒俘虏，1978年，帕克开始花钱品酒写酒评，发表了首份酒评指南Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate，这也是《葡萄酒倡导者》的前身。
1970年代初期，帕克期望出版一份能跟酒庄和酒商脱离利益关系的独立酒评指南，这份专业指南如同一本仅针对葡萄酒爱好者打造的杂志，仅靠读者的订阅费就可以维持运营的酒评机构。
1979年，帕克的杂志正式改名为《葡萄酒倡导者》（The Wine Advocate）。1983年，帕克发表了令他一鸣惊人的1982年波尔多期酒酒评，彼时大多数酒评家认为1982年这个年份过于成熟，不足以长久陈年。但他却认为这是一个将名垂青史的伟大年份。这个言论彻底的改变了帕克的人生，也坚定了他在酒评界的王者地位。
此后《葡萄酒倡导者》的名气大升，订阅数激增。1984年，帕克退出律师行业，开始全职专注于葡萄酒品评和《葡萄酒倡导者》的发展。
帕克在出版首期《葡萄酒倡导者》酒评指南时就使用了100分制酒评体系，相比于欧洲传统的20分制，这种简单易懂的100分体系改变了人们买酒的习惯：只要看分数高低就能决定是否要购入一款酒。如今帕克打造的《葡萄酒倡导者》在美国每个州都有订阅用户，并且遍布全世界40多个国家。
帕克是历史上首位被两位法国总统和一位意大利总统授予最高总统荣誉的葡萄酒作家/酒评家。
2012年12月，帕克宣布卸任《葡萄酒倡导者》主编的职务，钦定Lisa Perrotti-Brown接任。并将《葡萄酒倡导家》大部分股份出售给几位新加坡投资者。早在68岁生日时，帕克就表示，“在55岁的时候我就萌生了出售杂志的想法，我的健康有很多问题，包括不断加剧的背部疼痛、一次钛合金关节替换手术，我意识到我老了。”
2015年，在《葡萄酒倡导家》于伦敦举行的新闻发布会上，帕克再次宣布将波尔多期酒品评的工作转交给团队成员Neal Martin负责，自己将不再继续参与波尔多期酒品鉴。（编者注：后Neal Martin离职，加入了由帕克前员工Antonio Galloni创建的酒评机构Vinous）
自帕克离任后，《葡萄酒倡导者》的酒评团队人才流失和变动频繁，颇受争议。2016年，该杂志陷入日本清酒评分丑闻，被指涉嫌勾结酒商，曾在日本某葡萄酒公司工作过的主编Lisa成为众矢之至。而帕克曾经造成的“帕克影响”也受到不少业内人士的抨击，即有些酒庄为了得到高分，特意迎合帕克对橡木桶和果味的偏好而打造的酒款。
但不可否认的是，从来没有一个酒评家可以像帕克这样在葡萄酒行业在长达30年内拥有如此大的影响力，可谓呼风唤雨，被媒体称之为“葡萄酒皇帝”。
除却帕克开创先河的100分评分体系和令其名声大振的波尔多1982年份，他的成功离不开自身的勤奋和天分。帕克的封笔代表着一个时代的终结，更代表着酒评家权倾朝野兴盛时代的终结。
随着全球化、信息化的不断加深，人们对世界各地葡萄酒的认知也在迅速提升。后帕克时代谁能成为酒评界新偶像？或许真正的问题可能是，这个时代已经不再需要第二个帕克了，不再需要偶像来指引自己要喝什么酒，在自媒体百花齐放百家争鸣的时代，人人可能都是酒评家。
以下为Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW英文全文，以飨读者。
The father of modern wine criticism, our publication’s founder and namesake, my greatest mentor and a dear friend, it is with mixed feelings that I announce that Robert M. Parker Jr. will, as of today, be formally hanging up his wine criticism boots and retiring from Robert Parker Wine Advocate. I say “mixed,” because if anyone deserves a rest from our frenetic world of wine reviews, it is Bob. And yet, his contribution to significantly raising the bar of critical, unbiased wine writing and wine quality cannot be overestimated. His unrivaled tasting experience and expert, straight-talking opinions will be sorely missed by consumers and trade alike.
Last year, I wrote about The Big Parkerization Lie, debunking this myth of the perceived phenomenon of a global wine production trend that sought to achieve an “international style” of wines that would garner high scores from Parker. I’d like to take the opportunity now to remind readers about Parker’s journey and some of his greatest achievements, notably: The Wine Advocate.
The origins of The Wine Advocate can be traced back to as far as 1967, when Robert Parker took a brief break from American college life to make his first trip to France on the heels of a young lady who was studying in Alsace. That lady was soon to become Mrs. Patricia Parker and remains so to this day. Apart from getting the girl, Parker discovered wine during this first trip to France and developed a taste for it. In the mid to late 1960s, the seedling concept of The Wine Advocate took root in Robert Parker’s mind, but his friends and family, bent on him becoming a lawyer, discouraged this as fanciful. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1973 and joined a firm as a practicing lawyer near where he and his young wife had grown up, in Baltimore, Maryland. But his professional heart was already lost to wine, and in 1978 Parker decided to put his money where his mouth was and began publishing his own wine guide, The Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate.
In the early 1970s, when Parker was conceiving of writing his own wine guide, he was taken with the work of Ralph Nader, an American political activist who sought to “out” corporate and political corruption by challenging compromised propaganda. Parker recognized that much of what was then being written about wine was compromised by the financial agendas of many of the famous wine writers of the day. He dreamt of a publication that could be free of financial ties to wineries and merchants, a guide that would produce wholly unbiased views on wines and that served only the interests of wine consumers. This would be a magazine that would be funded purely by subscribers—the people who buy, read and use it. And thus, The Wine Advocatestarted and remains true to this day.
In 1979 the name of Robert Parker’s magazine was changed to The Wine Advocate. In 1983, Parker’s controversial glowing reviews of the 1982 Bordeaux vintage, tasted from barrels in the wineries, created a stir among most other major wine writers who felt the vintage was too ripe and the wines wouldn’t age. When Parker turned out to be right about the greatness of this vintage, his reputation and subscriber base soared. By 1984 he was able to leave his law career to focus on The Wine Advocate and wine full-time.
Robert Parker created our original 100-point wine rating system with the first issue of The Wine Advocate, and it remains as the industry standard to this day. Today, Robert Parker Wine Advocate has subscribers in every state in America and in more than 40 countries throughout the wine world.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown making remarks at Robert M. Parker, Jr's 40th anniversary salon dinner at two-MICHELIN-starred Daniel restaurant in New York City. (Photo by Aaron Hutcherson.)
Robert M. Parker, Jr. is the only wine writer/critic in history to be given the highest Presidential Honors by two French presidents and an Italian President. On March 29, 1999, President Jacques Chirac signed a decree authorizing Robert M. Parker, Jr. to be a Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur. In 1993, the late President François Mitterrand made Parker a Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite. In 2002, Parker was made a Commendatore (Commander) in Italy’s National Order of Merit.
“As I retire from The Wine Advocate,” remarks Robert Parker, “I have the honor of passing the baton to our wonderful team. The time has come for myself to relinquish all editorial and board responsibilities with immediate effect. I raise my glass to all of you for being part of this journey and hope all will continue to share the enthusiasm for discovering wines with our dedicated reviewers.”
Robert Parker fully relinquished the reviewing of wines for Robert Parker Wine Advocate to his 10-strong review team more than two years ago now. Joe Czerwinski, Luis Gutiérrez, Monica Larner, William Kelley, Stephan Reinhardt, Mark Squires, Erin Brooks, Anthony Mueller, Liwen Hao and I have all had big shoes to fill, but we learned from the best. We couldn’t be more grateful to Bob for his guidance.
I hope that all of our readers and wine friends far and wide will raise a toast in honor of Robert Parker’s contribution to the wine world tonight.
Bob, here’s to wishing you a well-earned rest in your retirement. Savor each day with the pleasure of enjoying your greatest wine discoveries, as you have brought such joy to your readership. Cheers!
