He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Robert Parker has been criticized for many things, including creating a cult of "90 plus points" and awarding 100 points to some wines (critics of this approach say no wine can be absolutely perfect). He's been criticized for causing prices for wines to rise and criticized for causing them to fall, but then, he is the world's most influential wine critic.
Decanter magazine reports that the British wine community is currently all a-twitter over RP's 2007 Bordeaux en primeur marks because they're so low: "...they aren't pretty," intones writer Maggie Rosen, "He has awarded only three wines up to 100 points - all of them white; among the reds, only four achieved up to a potential 95." Rosen gets reactions from a number of people and declares that "many UK merchants are bearish on the vintage."
Parker's favourite 07 red is Bellevue Mondotte, a small "garage" producer in St. Emilion. The blend is merlot dominated and the property is just five acres. RP scored it 94-97.
On the plus side, with Parker's scores so "low", prices for top wines are likely to be lower than in recent years - and that surely is a good thing.
Hopefully Vintages will go in, RP notes in hand, and negotiate hard for lower prices for this year's en primeur release...
Read the hand-wringing report on how Parker slams with faint praise.
If you're new to wine or oblivious to critics' names, here's a great magazine feature on RP. It's from 2000, but it gives a good summary of why Robert Parker is important.
