diff --git a/lib/src/error.rs b/lib/src/error.rs
index cd6aae79..dccdf55f 100644
--- a/lib/src/error.rs
+++ b/lib/src/error.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
+use crate::sparql::SparqlParseError;
 use oxilangtag::LanguageTagParseError;
 use oxiri::IriParseError;
-use peg::error::ParseError;
-use peg::str::LineCol;
 use rio_turtle::TurtleError;
 use rio_xml::RdfXmlError;
 use std::error;
@@ -120,8 +119,8 @@ impl From<quick_xml::Error> for Error {
     }
 }
 
-impl From<ParseError<LineCol>> for Error {
-    fn from(error: ParseError<LineCol>) -> Self {
+impl From<SparqlParseError> for Error {
+    fn from(error: SparqlParseError) -> Self {
         Self::wrap(error)
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/src/sparql/mod.rs b/lib/src/sparql/mod.rs
index 28b02125..b9f4c722 100644
--- a/lib/src/sparql/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/src/sparql/mod.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ mod xml_results;
 use crate::model::NamedNode;
 use crate::sparql::algebra::QueryVariants;
 use crate::sparql::eval::SimpleEvaluator;
-use crate::sparql::parser::read_sparql_query;
 use crate::sparql::plan::TripleTemplate;
 use crate::sparql::plan::{DatasetView, PlanNode};
 use crate::sparql::plan_builder::PlanBuilder;
@@ -20,13 +19,14 @@ use crate::store::ReadableEncodedStore;
 use crate::Error;
 use crate::Result;
 use oxiri::Iri;
-use std::fmt;
 
 pub use crate::sparql::algebra::GraphPattern;
 pub use crate::sparql::model::BindingsIterator;
 pub use crate::sparql::model::QueryResult;
 pub use crate::sparql::model::QueryResultSyntax;
 pub use crate::sparql::model::Variable;
+pub use crate::sparql::parser::Query;
+pub use crate::sparql::parser::SparqlParseError;
 
 /// A prepared [SPARQL query](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/)
 pub trait PreparedQuery {
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ enum SimplePreparedQueryAction<S: ReadableEncodedStore> {
 impl<'a, S: ReadableEncodedStore + 'a> SimplePreparedQuery<S> {
     pub(crate) fn new(store: S, query: &str, options: QueryOptions<'_>) -> Result<Self> {
         let dataset = DatasetView::new(store, options.default_graph_as_union);
-        Ok(Self(match read_sparql_query(query, options.base_iri)? {
+        Ok(Self(match Query::parse(query, options.base_iri)?.0 {
             QueryVariants::Select {
                 algebra, base_iri, ..
             } => {
@@ -219,20 +219,3 @@ impl<'a> QueryOptions<'a> {
         self
     }
 }
-
-/// A parsed [SPARQL query](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/)
-#[derive(Eq, PartialEq, Debug, Clone, Hash)]
-pub struct Query(QueryVariants);
-
-impl fmt::Display for Query {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
-        self.0.fmt(f)
-    }
-}
-
-impl Query {
-    /// Parses a SPARQL query
-    pub fn parse(query: &str, base_iri: Option<&str>) -> Result<Self> {
-        Ok(Query(read_sparql_query(query, base_iri)?))
-    }
-}
diff --git a/lib/src/sparql/parser.rs b/lib/src/sparql/parser.rs
index 4fb6fd19..26fe8dcf 100644
--- a/lib/src/sparql/parser.rs
+++ b/lib/src/sparql/parser.rs
@@ -4,13 +4,80 @@ use crate::model::*;
 use crate::sparql::algebra::*;
 use crate::sparql::model::*;
 use oxiri::{Iri, IriParseError};
+use peg::error::ParseError;
 use peg::parser;
+use peg::str::LineCol;
 use std::borrow::Cow;
-use std::char;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet};
+use std::error::Error;
 use std::str::Chars;
 use std::str::FromStr;
+use std::{char, fmt};
+
+/// A parsed [SPARQL query](https://www.w3.org/TR/sparql11-query/)
+#[derive(Eq, PartialEq, Debug, Clone, Hash)]
+pub struct Query(pub(crate) QueryVariants);
+
+impl fmt::Display for Query {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        self.0.fmt(f)
+    }
+}
+
+impl Query {
+    /// Parses a SPARQL query
+    pub fn parse(query: &str, base_iri: Option<&str>) -> Result<Self, SparqlParseError> {
+        let mut state = ParserState {
+            base_iri: if let Some(base_iri) = base_iri {
+                Some(
+                    Iri::parse(base_iri.to_owned()).map_err(|e| SparqlParseError {
+                        inner: SparqlParseErrorKind::InvalidBaseIri(e),
+                    })?,
+                )
+            } else {
+                None
+            },
+            namespaces: HashMap::default(),
+            bnodes_map: BTreeMap::default(),
+            used_bnodes: BTreeSet::default(),
+            aggregations: Vec::default(),
+        };
+
+        Ok(Self(
+            parser::QueryUnit(&unescape_unicode_codepoints(query), &mut state).map_err(|e| {
+                SparqlParseError {
+                    inner: SparqlParseErrorKind::Parser(e),
+                }
+            })?,
+        ))
+    }
+}
+
+/// Error returned during SPARQL parsing.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct SparqlParseError {
+    inner: SparqlParseErrorKind,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+enum SparqlParseErrorKind {
+    InvalidBaseIri(IriParseError),
+    Parser(ParseError<LineCol>),
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for SparqlParseError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match &self.inner {
+            SparqlParseErrorKind::InvalidBaseIri(e) => {
+                write!(f, "Invalid SPARQL base IRI provided: {}", e)
+            }
+            SparqlParseErrorKind::Parser(e) => e.fmt(f),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Error for SparqlParseError {}
 
 struct FocusedTriplePattern<F> {
     focus: F,
@@ -521,30 +588,6 @@ pub fn unescape_pn_local(input: &str) -> Cow<'_, str> {
     unescape_characters(input, &UNESCAPE_PN_CHARACTERS, &UNESCAPE_PN_REPLACEMENT)
 }
 
-//include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/sparql_grammar.rs"));
-
-pub fn read_sparql_query(
-    query: &str,
-    base_iri: Option<&str>,
-) -> super::super::Result<QueryVariants> {
-    let mut state = ParserState {
-        base_iri: if let Some(base_iri) = base_iri {
-            Some(Iri::parse(base_iri.to_owned())?)
-        } else {
-            None
-        },
-        namespaces: HashMap::default(),
-        bnodes_map: BTreeMap::default(),
-        used_bnodes: BTreeSet::default(),
-        aggregations: Vec::default(),
-    };
-
-    Ok(parser::QueryUnit(
-        &unescape_unicode_codepoints(query),
-        &mut state,
-    )?)
-}
-
 parser! {
     //See https://www.w3.org/TR/turtle/#sec-grammar
     grammar parser(state: &mut ParserState) for str {