Robert McDowell Parker Jr. (*1947), a lawyer from Baltimore, USA, was one of the most influential wine journalists and wine critics in the world for several decades. At the end of the 1970s, this man, who was unknown in the wine world at the time, disempowered the leading British wine journalists. Allegedly, his "nose" (tasting ability) was insured for one million dollars, which is why he was also called "The Million Dollar Nose" or "Wine Pope". The impetus for his involvement with wine was a trip to Alsace at the age of 20. In 1978, the first issue of The Wine Advocate magazine, which has been published bimonthly since then, appeared, containing reviews of individual wines. Today there are over 45,000 subscribers in around 40 countries worldwide. In 2013, Parker sold shares to a Singaporean investor group represented by Soo Hoo Khon Peng and retired from the editorship of The Wine Advocate. His successor is US journalist Lisa Perrotti-Brown. May 2019 saw the final retirement of Robert Parker.
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