The number of wines given a perfect 100 points by Robert Parker and his fellow Wine Advocate critics stands at more than 500, and the list is growing with exponential speed.

Wine Searcher features a list of the 511 commercially available wines that have been awarded 100 “Parker points” and it makes interesting reading.

So far this year, 69 wines have been elevated to perfect status, following on from 102 last year and the end of the year tends to see a bumper crop. Yet only five years ago, the number of wines awarded 100 points was 38 and even that more than doubled the number from 2004, which was just 17.

An examination of the list also reveals that Parker points are far from restricted to top Bordeaux châteaux and California Cabernets: in fact, the Rhône is the hot favorite with 107 wines. Next down the list is indeed California, with 97 wines, but Bordeaux numbers a relatively slim 86.