Max,Ken and others make good points. Only you will be able to decide
what critic is best for you. I'd also point out that one's tastes might
sync well with a critic one area, and not another. Even more
complicating is the fact that the bigger publications have multiple
critics (WA is not just Parker, but now Rovani, Thomases, and David S.
; WS has a half-dozen critics).

I find FOR ME Parker is reasonably reliable for Medoc, so-so for CA cab
& Right Bank, way off for Australia. Rovani is so-so for Germany and
way off my tastes in Burgundy. But at WS I find Suckling maddeningly
inconsistent. As for Laube, he's less a critic these days than a
crusader for squeaky-clean "Davis" wines. I do find Claude Kolm (Fine
Wine Review) and Allen Meadows (Burghound) fairly reliable for Burgundy
FOR MY TASTES, yet I still disagree at least 20% of the time.