AUTHOR Alexander Dumas once said: 'Wine (is) the intellectual part of the meal!'

Just how intellectual? Check out the latest book on wine 'rating' pioneer Rober Parker to know.

Mention the name Robert Parker to those in the wine business and we guarantee some reaction - most will toast him while some will spit.

Makers of Bordeaux credit him and his 100-point rating system, which Americans have embraced, with revitalizing their livelihood.

But others blame Parker and his points for what is termed the "international" style that has overrun vineyards from Bordeaux to Healdsburg and Porto to Perth.

"It is wine that has no sense of place. You can take one sip or 10 and still not know where it is from," said Alice Feiring, author of the book The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization.

"Basically, it's a formula, a recipe. The winemaker isn't working with what nature gave him, but a chemistry set and machines," she said.

Photographs: Getty Images