Harvest (wine) of wine, winemakers would use the sugar and acid levels of the grape as a guide in determining ripeness. Early winemakers tasted the grapes to gauge ripeness. Modern winemakers use a refractometer to measure high sugar levels and °Brix or titration tests (using an indicator such as phenolphthalein) to determine the titratable acidity within the grape. In recent times there has been more of an emphasis on the "physiological" ripeness of the grape, usually in the form of tannins and other phenolics. Currently, tasting is the only way to measure tannin ripeness, which can take experience and skill to do
The Wine Advocate The Wine Advocate The Wine Advocate, fully known as Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and informally abbreviated TWA or WA or more recently as RP, is a global bimonthly wine publication based in the United States featuring the consumer advice of wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. Initially titled "The Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate" the first issue was published in 1978. Accepting no advertising, the newsletter publishes in excess of 12,000 reviews per year, utilizing Parker's rating system that employs a 50–100 point quality scale (Parker Points® or simply "RP"). These wine ratings have a significant effect on the sales of the