The gourmet union of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Michelin

michelin-parkerAfter Trump’s visit last week in Paris for Bastille Day, another hot French-American topic hits the headlines, this time in the wine business: the French Michelin Guide has taken over 40% of the capital of Robert Parker’s very famous American wine critic company, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (RPWA).

Robert Parker long found it was regrettable that wine and gastronomy were dissociated by specialized critics. However, beginning of July, the purchase of 40% of RPWA’s capital by Michelin demonstrates that these two worlds are made to work together. As a reminder, the American critic quickly made a name for himself at the beginning of the 1980s, assigning scores out of 100 to wines blind tasted. Since then, these ratings have influenced people around the world for their purchases. On the other hand, since 1936, the Michelin Guide selects the best restaurants and hotels from 28 countries and highlights new trends and culinary talents.

Today, the two epicurean companies unite their forces and notoriety with this transaction, of which the amount and the shareholders’ identities have not been revealed. Already collaborators since 2016, they jointly produce Michelin guides from Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. They also organize dinners cooked by Michelin-star chefs, paired to carefully selected wines by Robert Parker’s team. Nevertheless, this new acquisition will enable the French group to significantly increase its reputation and communication in new markets such as the United States and Asia, increasingly attractive countries, illustrated by rising wine imports. On the other hand, while the Michelin guide remains an icon in gourmets’ minds, its printing is decreasing with 150,000 copies published in 2016, compared to 500,000 in the 1990s, due to digitization. However, the website Michelin restaurants still counts 15 million annual visits. Michelin plans to take advantage of the 40,000 subscribers to Robert Parker’s content.

With this agreement, wines and gastronomy will continue being valued all over the world. And that’s good news, isn’t?

This week we decided to do one fixed-price sale with top rated cuvées, featuring, among others, rated cuvées by Robert Parker. See wines. 

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