Customer Rating: 
Summary: THE Bible for wine people.
Comment: If you are a beginner or a total expert, this book is your constant source of review--it never gets outdated because one always needs to refer to it. Even to those who are not Robert Parker fans, have this book in their wine collection. A MUST!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Five books in one
Comment: Parker's guide currently available came out some time already and does not cover the latest vintages, but the book is still an incredible source of information about wine-making, geographical regions etc. It's as if we were buying a few good books in one. You have over 1,600 pages in the book! As such, it offers very good value, especially at the discounted price at which it's available now. It is especially useful for people interested in European wines, as it does not cover New World brands in such detail as it does, for example, French or German wines. I strongly recommend the book not just to wine buyers but also to people who want to know more about wines. No other book offers so much at this price. Personally, I treat the reviews as guidelines only though; You may not necessarily like the wines Parker likes, or you may not necessarily be able to afford them. The book does not cover the cheapest lot :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Wine Buying Guide
Comment: This book is a wine buying guide, pure and simple, by one of the most highly recognized wine critics of our generation. Put the man aside whether or not you agree with his rating systems and the impact they have had on the price structure of wine. Instead, focus you attention on the purpose of the review, his book. 1635 pages in which he rates wines from the greatest producers on Earth over the past decade. His descriptions make you want to run right out and purchase a bottle to have with dinner. His rating scores are right on and there is no reason to doubt them. Very well done in 2002, this work is very much out of date today.
(Joseph Broski - Dionysian Society International)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic that requires a new Update
Comment: The reason the "sheep" (word used in negative rating postings) follow Parker's guidance, and the reason Robert Parker's are the only reviews that influence price fluctuations for Bordeaux, is that Robert Parker combines impeccable taste with a relentless dedication to objectivity. Parker's 100-point Wine rating system has been near-universally adopted. Parker was the first Wine critic to seriously denounce Filtration practices that destroy Wines for merchant/commercial utility (ability to ship without regard to horridly high temperatures) -- Many other tasters (shills?) throughout the 1970's and 1980's insisted that filtering had no impact, or even influence, on taste. This pre or non-Parker view is now universally rejected, to the great benefit of Red Wine consumers.
Criticisms that Parker spends too much time focusing on French wines (esp. Bordeaux) are true but largely miss-the-point. If you want a comprehensive guide to California Wineries, you should definitely look elsewhere. Specialty books abound on California Wines, especially here in the States, and to fault a Wine book containing 1,596 pages of Text for lack of comprehensiveness is near absurdity. Parker includes some "cult" California producers for, I think, obvious reasons: The "cult" offerings are far superior to overcropped, overpriced-even-at-$10-$12 California Wines that have saturated the US Market (does this really need to be stated?!). Parker ignores cheap, insipid California offerings just as he largely ignores cheap, insipid Italian Whites (again, note that I agree). You might just as well question why he doesn't rate jugs of Carlo Rossi. There's no conspiracy there.
It is certainly true that Parker prefers full, tannic, flavorful Red Bordeaux (and Bordeaux-like) Wines. He is a Bordeaux specialist who has received 2 knighthoods from the nation of France for his Bordeaux tasting ability: Can you blame Wine Producers for courting his taste, or Wine Consumers for buying his selections?? Still, I don't think his preference is as all-encompassing as some critics suggest: I am personally a huge fan of Rieslings, and I have very rarely disagreed with Parker's ratings of Alsace and German producers.
The biggest issue with this work is that it is getting out-of-date (though the superb quality of 2005 Bordeaux's may force Parker to pen a new version quickly). Also do take note if you do not have access to New York or California Wine stores you will only have access to most Parker-reviewed wines through online outlets.
Some specific viewpoints also beguile some consumers who take insufferable offense: Parker loves Champagne and largely disparages 'Sparkling Wines' (a view I happen to share), Parker likes/loves Gewurztraminer which is not a crowd-pleaser, Parker hates Italian Whites, and Parker prefers the finest Red Bordeaux over the finest Red Burgundies (note that co-author Rovani penned the Burgundy section).
For those interested in Value -- Best French values are generally found through trying Wines from Parker's noted producers in Alsace, Languedoc/Roussillon, the Loire valley and the Rhone appellations. Many of these Wines are under-appreciated and generally under-valued. Further, though Parker's sections on Spain, Australia and N.Z. are anything but comprehensive, his noted 'outstanding' and 'great' Producers are trustworthy for all but the worst vintages.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: this book has an enormous amount of information
Comment: the reviewer who said Parker is a dictator who has greatly damaged or destroyed the wonderful diversity of wine in the market is right, but that is not a criticism of this book. it is a criticism of the market who try to cater to the lowest denominator.
parkers book contains a huge amount of useful information for the beginner, and even my connoisseur friends find it invaluable. When you go to a restaurant or store without information on a given wine, it helps greatly to have his opinion.
Sadly his opinion has begun to be the criterion for winemakers to try to meet. I personally like lower alcohol wines, and generally subtler wines than he favors and brags on. Thus his criticism and scores are a direct cause of my favorite wines disappearing from the marketplace.
I.e. Robert parker is both a useful source of education and a tremendously harmful influence in the world of wine. people increasingly buy what robert likes rather than what they themselves like. This is idiocy, but it is not his fault. This is a very good and useful book, but if you compare it to one of his older books, say from 1989, you will see that the older one was more candid and hence better.
I recommend this book, but do not read it as a bible, rather a well written and fairly comprehensive source of information. But make up your own mind, and remember that how your head feels the next day is also a relevant criterion for enjoying wine. I personally recommend Hugh Johnsons and michael Broadbents books as more reliable and honest.
This book is simultaneously most useful to beginners and most dangerous. It has a lot of information beginners need in the general discussion sections, but in the recommendations, it helps to know a bit about wine before listening to his imperious opinions about what is good and what isn't.
I personally think it ludicrous to even consider buying most of the highly rated cALIFORNIA WINES WHICH ARE to my palate, very overpriced high alcohol bombs, which can be bested easily with many many French wines costing at most 40-50 dollars.
E.g he gives scores above 90 to recent Silver Oak wines, costing $50-$120, but which I and most people I know consider very artificially flavored products in which one tastes mainly wood, and not grapes. If you are ignorant of wine, this is impressive at first, but eventually you begin to notice you are not tasting the wine.
I agree that 1985 Silver Oak was a fine wine, but 2001 for over $100? That should be a joke, but because of the influx of moneyed novices to the wine market it is not.
Compare a 1998 Chateau le Gay ($40+), Parker 89, to a 2001 Silver oak ($100+) and see if you identify with what I am saying. Those who think the more powerful a wine is, the better it is, will nonetheless disagree.
Or if you like like rich tastes and can find them, compare a 1997 Heights Bella Oaks ($65, Parker unrated), to a 1995 Chateau laTour ($300, Parker 96+).
I am just saying, learn from parker, but follow your own taste buds.
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