1. The Wine Advocate (Robert Parker)

The American Robert M. Parker Jr. (1947) might be the most influential wine critic of all time. Parker fell in love with wine when he visited Alsace in 1967 where his girlfriend (now wife) Patricia was studying. He finished his legal studies and became a lawyer in Baltimore in 1973. In 1978, he started publishing The Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate, a bi-monthly newsletter which was renamed The Wine Advocate a year later. Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate soon became one of the most trusted sources of wine reviews. One of the main reasons was his enthousiasm of the Bordeaux wine vintage 1982 tasted en primeur, which was not rated that high by other wine critics.

The Wine Advocate ranks wine on a scale from 50 to 100 points based upon the wine's color and appearance, aroma and bouquet, flavor and finish, and overall quality level or potential.

In 2000, an online version of the magazine was introduced, RobertParker.com. In 2006 Parker appointed staff members to cover the majority of the world’s wine regions in Parker’s place, and generate wine scores for The Wine Advocate. In December 2012 Robert Parker also stepped back from his full-time position, naming Lisa Perrotti-Brown as the publication's new editor-in-chief.

The Wine Advocate staff now includes Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Luis Gutierrez, Monica Larner, Stephan Reinhardt, Joe Czerwinski, William Kelley, Erin Brooks, Anthony Mueller, Edward Ragg and Mark Squires. On 22 November, 2019 it was announced that Michelin Guide became the sole owner of The Wine Advocate. Robert Parker himself retired in 2019 at age 71.

2. Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is an American magazine specializing in tasting notes, industry news and wine-personality profiles. The magazine was founded by Bob Morrisey in 1976, and sold just three years later to Marvin Shanken, who moved the operation to its current headquarters in New York.

The senior wine critics who figure among Wine Spectator’s tasting and reviewing panel are James Laube, Thomas Matthews, Bruce Sanderson, Kim Marcus, James Molesworth, MaryAnn Worobiec, Alison Napjus, Tim Fish, Gillian Sciaretta and Aleks Zecevic. The famous wine critic James Suckling wrote for the magazine between 1981 and 2010, rating tuscan wine and piemonte wine, but now has an independent website and wine scoring system.

3. James Suckling

James Suckling (1958) is an American wine journalist and one of today’s leading wine critics. In 1981, Suckling joined the magazine Wine Spectator as an assistant editor and spent almost 30 years at the magazine as (senior) editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator.

In 2010, Suckling left Wine Spectator and launched his own website JamesSuckling.com. The website consists of his tasting notes, videos and blogs and focuses on the great wines of the world including Italy, Bordeaux, Champagne, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Napa Valley wine and Oregon wine.

For his wine scores, James Suckling also uses the 100-point scale, but focuses mainly on high-quality wines rated 90 or higher and hardly publishes wines under 90 points.

4. Jancis Robinson

Jancis Mary Robinson (1950) is a British wine writer and critic. Robinson started her wine writing career in 1975 when she became assistant editor for the trade magazine Wine & Spirit. In 1984, she became the first person outside the wine trade to become a Master of Wine. She is now one of the most influential people in the business, writes a weekly column for the Financial Times and publishes articles and wine ratings on her website JancisRobinson.com.

Robinson is the author of many wine classics like the famous Oxford Companion to Wine and co-authored the World Atlas of Wine with Hugh Johnson. She is also widely viewed as the authority on ampelography (the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines) and is the author of the comprehensive book Wine Grapes.

The team behind JancisRobinson.com consists of 12 editors, of which 5 Masters of Wine other than Jancis Robinson herself: Julia Harding MW, Richard Hemming MW, Tamlyn Currin, Nick Lander, Walter Speller, Michael Schmidt, Ferran Centelles, Elaine Chukan Brown, Tim Jackson MW, Alistair Cooper MW and Tom Parker MW. For the wine scores, a 20-point scale is used.

5. Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

Antonio Galloni's fascination with wine started at an early age. His parents retailed Italian wines, while his grandfather had a deep love for Bordeaux wine, Burgundy wine and the Rhône wine. In 2004, while a graduate student at MIT, Galloni founded Piedmont Report, the first specialist English-language journal focused on Italian wine. Antonio joined Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate as the Italian wine critic in 2006. Later, he also covered the wines of California, Burgundy and Champagne for The Wine Advocate.

In 2013, Antonio Galloni launched his own website Vinous. The site brings together professional wine reviews, thematic stories, videos and photos, and reader opinion in a dynamic, interactive setting.

Other wine critics reviewing for Vinous are David Schildknecht, Neil Martin (who have both previously reviewed for The Wine Advocate), Joshua Raynolds, Eric Guido, Jason Wilson and Joaquín Hidalgo. Just like The Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator and James Suckling, Galloni uses the 100-point wine-scoring system.

6. Rene Gabriel (Weinwisser)

René Gabriël, also known as the Wine Pope, is considered the most influential wine critic in German-speaking countries. He was a longtime purchasing manager at Mövenpick Wein, co-founded and authored the successful monthly newsletter WeinWisser, with lots of discoveries of Swiss wine and Austrian wine, and is the author of many wine books such as Wein Bibel (his comprehensive German-language wine book) and Goldene Nase.

In the spring of 2010, René Gabriël and a partner launched a high-quality universal glass for all wines / grape varieties: "Gabriël Glas". In 2014, he took over the share package from his partner and is now the sole owner of Gabriel-Glas GmbH in Hallein (A).

With the launch of his web portal www.bxtotal.com in 2013, the Gabriël readers got constant access to 60.000+ wine notes and ratings. For the wine scores, a 20-point scale is used. A special score of 21 is reserved for legendary wines, that are ‘beyond scale’.