He, for all intents and purposes, created Wine Berserkers.
I gotta love him for that.
And in essence helped with the creation of Todd in the Wine Check tankini. Totally love that, even though you delivered today out of uniform.
Eeee haw! 
A lot of good friends made due to his support of the Squires forum.
Same as Rainer, a lot of good friends met through the Bulletin Board, which I think (no offense to Mark Squires) gained its fame by having his name attached to it. I don’t think I would have discovered the forum on eBob… if it hadn’t been on eBob. And a lot of knowledge accumulated there. I can definitely say I learned the most about wine so far while participating in that community.
one less lawyer litigating.
RMP in my view, fundamentally changed the way wine writing is done. He showed that you did not need to be a wine importer/distributor to write about wine. Much as he may regret it today, many of the “blobbers” are following in his footsteps.
Ditto. And it seems almost strange to contemplate now, but he had the foresight to buy the Squires board way back in 2002 and leverage his influence online. However much he gets slammed today for failing to grasp the point and the value of online communication (and I think those criticisms are mostly valid), it remains true that none of his critics had the foresight he did in 2002.
Everyone here in the WB world hates him; so he must be doing somthing right. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Oh, and he turned me onto Sine Qua Non many moons ago. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
He’s played a major role in improving the quality of wine, at all levels, over the past few decades.
His TNs have taught me an enormous amount about wine (including, more recently, where my palate differs from his – and I don’t mean that sarcastically, it would happen with any wine critic).
His operation has brought in a set of very talented and dedicated tasters (David, Neal, Lisa) and the scope of their TNs exceeds any professionals’ (I believe, haven’t really researched this).
His own TNs are very consistent, even when he rates wines above or below what I would, you can tell from the TN after a little experience.
He (and Mark’s) BB have brought together a vibrant and interesting online community, from which I’ve learned a lot and which has led me to meet many wonderful people.
As others have said, he introduced me to Rhone wines and they have become my passion. Although I can no longer follow his reviews of that region blindly or even close to that, it is still true that the range of places he gets to is astonishing and he still can point me toward new places (although I have to watch out since I won’t like a lot of those wines).
When I first was interested in wine, TWA was my single major source of information and for many years, I could follow it and it led me to new areas that I would not have tried. I don’t know if my taste changed or his, but, with exceptions, for years he led me to wines that became old friends.
Prior to technologies that made wine more extracted, and prior to his current period of feeling embattled and thus snapping back thoughtlessly, he actually did champion non-interventionist and artisinal wines. Granted, he frequently meant by this unfiltered wines, which does follow his taste for extraction, but still, he was there with the principal and it did shape my early thinking about things.
I’ll add one more: consistency. By being true to his own palate, I could calibrate to his notes and scores.
This is a nice thread and I am happy to see it. Adding my own two cents… Thanks to Parker I discovered Bordeaux. IMO, Bob has done to promote and improve the wines of Bordeaux and the Rhone than any other person. Add to that, I have made and kept a lot of good friends thanks to his website.
He made me aware of Riedel stemware, the fining/filtration issue, low vs. high yields and vineyard density. All issues, pre-internet that were for the most part non-existent outside the wine industry.
When I was first learning about wine, he was invaluable for opening the doors to regions of the world beyond Napa, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the “known” regions. Places like Alsace, Oregon and others were discovered through him. Add to that, a good understanding of “value” those years ago.
In grad school I was getting interested in wine, and one day I saw in the New Yorker (?) a small, column-width ad for the WA – request a sample issue. So I did, and the “Final Report” for 1985 Bordeaux showed up (with SAMPLE stamped on the front). I still have that issue, though many others have been recycled since. I remember reading about a “value wine,” Ch. Pitray, which I recalled having seen in a store recently – mainly because the label, which featured a grainy black-and-white photo, was so homely. I went back to the store and bought that wine and a few other Parker recommendations, and subscribed to the WA. Like many here I discovered the wines of the Rhone because of his work. I put little index tabs on the pages of the Bordeaux book for quicker reference. I was the first on my block to have the Rhone book. Over the years I gave several copies of the RP’s Wine Buyer’s Guide to friends who were getting into wine.
Nowadays I pretty much know what I like and don’t pay so much attention to reviews. But I still regard RP as a trusty guide in the early days. (Trivia question: how many recall Jay Miller’s review of Washington State wines in a 1990 or '91 issue of the WA?)
How do you (and he) account for mistaking Graham’s Six Grapes for 30 year old VP? 
Another one - after a lengthy buying hiatus, I decided to jump back in in the summer of 2001 by buying a lot of relatively inexpensive 2000 Bordeaux because it was getting rave reviews. I took RMPs reviews and I picked either a case or a half case of a bunch of lesser cru Brodeaux just to have around. I ended up with these, and I am very happy with them. The Lascombes and D’Issan are not really lesser Cru, but I got them at a price point comparable to the others.
2000 Château d’Armailhac (Médoc, Pauillac)
2000 Château Cantemerle (Médoc, Haut-Médoc)
2000 Château Cos Labory (Médoc, St. Estèphe)
2000 Château Fougas Maldoror (Côtes de Bourg)
2000 Château Grand Mayne (Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru)
2000 Château d’Issan (Médoc, Margaux)
2000 Château La Fleur de Jaugue (Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru)
2000 Château Lascombes (Médoc, Margaux)
2000 Château de Sales (Libournais, Pomerol)
And then there’s Cellartracker. I never would have found it without the Squires BB.
Okay now, I salute the positive spirit and emotional maturity behind this lovefest and have even contributed my 2 cents. But if it continues much longer I might propose a moratorium on further praise until Parker can say something positive about some of the folks who see things differently from him, instead of comparing them to Ahmadinejad or the like per his usual MO. It shouldn’t be that hard!
I don’t expect donkeys to fly. But I don’t need to become a donkey in response. I’m happy to see this thread as an exception to the usual discourse on these boards.
It’s all laid out right here. So many of us are deeply thankful to Parker. He was a formative part of so many of our wine experiences. And that is what makes his current behavior all the more frustrating and upsetting.