Wine Rates Detailed explanations and examples of the different wine rating systems.
Bloggers and professional critics often rate or score wines in conjunction with their tasting notes. In Europe, it is very common to use a 20-point rating scale. In America, a 100-point system is preferred, similar to the way grades are given in schools. No matter which method is used to rate wine, the point scale will be used. 100 Pts is just as valid as 20 Pts or 10 Pts. A wine rating will always be a wine ranking.
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It is easy to understand wine ratings. The writer decides how to score a wine, whether they are a professional or an amateur. I like wine ratings. In the tasting reports I write, I rate many wines. These notes allow readers to see which wines I enjoyed more or less compared to other wines within the same peer group. This is not an accurate claim. It’s easy to say I like one wine better than another. With wine ratings, this is easy to achieve. Alternatively, the goal of scoring wine is not to determine the quality found in each numerical rating. It is done to make it easier to compare one wine with another within the same peer group. The score lets the reader quickly know which wine was rated higher than another wine. The score also shows the difference between the wine that the writer found and another wine from the same group. I don’t know why this causes such a lot of problems for some people.
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You can find thousands of wine-tasting notes and ratings on this website. This volume of notes and ratings will give you a good idea of the styles and wines I like. You can easily determine which wine to buy based on price if you use my notes to guide you.
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It would help if you always read the wine descriptions and not only the score. You might not like the same styles of wine that I do. Other wine styles, which I don’t like, might suit your palate better. Everyone who enjoys wine can have a taste for it. Trust your palate. Please enjoy a wine. If you don’t like a wine, it doesn’t matter how highly rated the wine was by others. It only matters that you enjoy the wine.
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Wine ratings are most often done in peer groups. The high or low scores for a Bordeaux wine are different from the high or low scores for a Rhone Valley wine. It is the same when comparing Cote Rotie with Chateauneuf du Pape. The same is true for California wines. This is because every area has its unique quality criteria. The high scores represent the taster’s opinion of quality regardless of the peer group, and the lower scores are reserved only for wines that did not provide the same level of experience.
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It is important to remember that when rating mature wines (bottles older than 20), the score and description are only for the bottle and not for the wine. The old saying “the wine is in the bottle”! There is no great wine after 20 years. Only great bottles. Each bottle is different in age and storage. Many factors influence the development of older wine, including the seal, cork, temperature at which the wine was shipped and stored, as well as pure luck. The older wine in the bottles of a case can have a different taste. For these reasons, wine ratings can be very different for mature bottles. It would be best if you always read the tasting notes.
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The tasting notes reveal as much about you as they do about the wine. My tastes and dislikes are fairly constant. When I buy wine, I am looking for certain qualities. They are more prevalent in high-scoring wines, while lower-scoring wines have fewer of them. It’s helpful to look at a sample of tasting notes to get a sense of what the taster enjoys. With all the messages that I have posted, I hope you can get an idea of how I value complexity and character. I also look for balance, length, and texture.
Due to the condition in which the bottle was stored, my experience may not be the same as yours. The majority of wines that I review, from 1988 onwards, will come from a damp, cold cellar. These wines are likely to offer the best experience. I tasted older Bordeaux wines that had been stored in the chateau and never moved. These bottles would also provide a perfect tasting experience, and the wine ratings of those wines would be higher.
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Some wine enthusiasts believe that wines shouldn’t be rated or compared. It’s not right to assign a number to an artwork. Wine is unique. I have received emails asking me if I could score music or paintings. Why not? No one I know can listen to CDs and not enjoy one song more than another. It is easy to say the same thing about the best paintings in history.
As an example, the Beatles are still the best rock band that has ever existed, in my opinion. Some songs are better than others. In that sense, “Sgt Pepper,” the ultimate piece, deserves 100 points, while “What Goes On” is boring and, at best, an average cut and may earn 80 points. It’s the same for every consumer product, including movies. Some movies are better than others, and that is why they are more popular.
Wine is a consumer, commercial product. Wine is a passion. It’s still a drink that must be tried to enjoy. Some wines are superior to others. Some wines are more affordable than others. Ratings from trusted writers are essential.
The reviewer’s rating is a measure of the quality they found in the wine. This does not mean that you or anyone else has to agree. The score will tell you exactly what the reviewer thinks about the quality of the wine. The critic may get a job if enough people agree with him. I would suggest that the writer keep his career if a lot of people disagree.
