So what is up with wine rating methodologies/systems?
How necessary or useful are they???
I’ve previously shared tips on how to taste and evaluate wine, how to conduct a tasting party, and even offered some tips and cautions on pairing cheese and appetizers with wine. Here’s some insight into wine rating scales and scores you see in the media and on shelf or bottle tags in retail venues…
A long as you don’t get too wrapped up in rating systems, they have value – more for some less for others… as the saying goes “Anything taken to an excess…” For myself, I consider them advisory but not necessarily directive – they are an input but not the final decision. I don’t take them too seriously due to the wide range in human taste preferences and a desire not to limit a sense of (WINE!) adventure.
My winemaker status aside, I encourage folks to give enjoyment the nod over analysis – leave the extreme analysis to the wine critics, professional tasters and (oops) wine makers. Keep it simple – as long as a wine is enjoyable to the group you’re with or yourself, it’s to be… enjoyed.
Nevertheless there is also a good amount of frustration amongst wine lovers with either too simple (e.g. 5-star) or too complex (e.g. 100 point) scoring/evaluation systems. The esteemed (and somewhat controversial) wine critic Robert M. Parker transitioned from a career in law in 70’s and was instrumental in establishing the 100 point evaluation system. His focus primarily on French wines, and Bordeaux wines in particular. A 100 point Parker rating can increase the price of a wine fourfold.
If you’re short on time, please skip to the below “Summary” and rating table download – otherwise read on and swell your WINE Brain!!!
The following discussion and tables briefly explain the bounds of these rating systems and provide a reference of sorts. Some rating methodologies are even combined into hybrids.
The famous (or infamous) Parker 100 Point Scale:
• 96-100 Points:
An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase, and consume.
• 90 – 95 Points:
An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
• 80 – 89 Points:
A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
• 70 – 79 Points:
An average wine with little distinction except that it is a soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
• 60 – 69 Points:
A below average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor, or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
• 50 – 59 Points:
A wine deemed to be unacceptable.
Another 100 point scale but similar to Parker’s…
• 99-100 Points:
A jaw-dropping, heart-stopping effort—not just everything you’d expect, but MORE than you could reasonably expect from a wine.
• 96-98 Points:
Overwhelming. A rare level of greatness for wines that knock your socks off with their massiveness or make your hair stand on end with their elegance.
• 92-95 Points:
Rocking wines that achieve something special within what they try to be. Occasionally wines in this range are a bit one-dimensional, but that one dimension will blow you away.
• 90-91 Points:
High quality wines that make you go back to the glass looking for (and usually finding) something more in the sensory arena. Wines that are not just enjoyable but pique one’s curiosity.
• 85-89 Points:
Above average wines that perhaps lack that little something extra that makes them worthy of a 90-point score. Satisfactory. Drinkable and unobjectionable.
• 80-84 Points:
Something about the wine just rubs you the wrong way, but it has some redeeming features.
• 70-79 Points:
Very average wines capable of quenching thirst but little else. Straightforward and unremarkable.
• 60-69 Points:
Flawed wines to avoid at all costs. Practically undrinkable.
• 50-59 Points:
So poor that the 60-69 range is insufficient to describe their inadequacy. Undrinkable.
Here’s a conversion table that links the scoring methodologies and adds an even simpler 5-level assessment in the rightmost column and further below, a table with A-F letter grades:
And a more table linking 100-point scale to letter grades:
So in a long “Summary”
Wine Rating Scales include 100-points, 20-points, 3-Glasses and more… Different wine critic publications use different techniques to evaluate wine and different rating scales to compare them.
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, the Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast all use a 100-point rating scale, although the qualitative meanings associated with the numbers are not exactly the same. It is perhaps not an accident that these are all American publications and that American wine readers are familiar with 100-point ratings from their high school and college classes.
In theory a 100-point system allows wine critics to be very precise in their relative ratings (a 85-point syrah really is better than an 84-point syrah) although in practice many consumers may not be able to appreciate the distinction. Significantly, it is not really a 100-point scale since 50 points is functionally the lowest grade and it is rare to see wines rated for scores lower than 70, so the scale is not really as precise as it might seem.
The 100-point scale is far from universal. The enologists at the University of California at Davis use a 20-point rating scale, Jancis Robinson (UK wine critic) and Decanter (wine magazine). As a BTW, the 20-point scale has an European origin and corresponds to French high school and university grading systems.
The UC Davis 20-point scale gives up to 4 points for appearance, 6 points for smell, 8 points for taste and 2 for overall harmony. The Office International du Vin’s 20-point scale has different relative weights for wine qualities; it awards 4 points for appearance, 4 for smell and 12 for taste. Oz Clark (critic) uses a 20 point system assigns 2, 6 and 12 points for look, smell and taste. It’s easy to understand how the same wine can receive different scores when different critics used different criteria and different weights.
A 20-point scale (which is often really a 10-point scale) offers less precision in relative rankings, since only whole and half point ratings are available, but this may be appropriate depending upon how the ratings are to be used. Wines rated 85, 86 and 87 on a 100-point scale, for example, might all receive scores of about 16 on a 20 point scale. It’s up to you to decide if the finer evaluative grid provides useful information.
Decanter (publication) uses both a 20-point scale and as well as simple guide of zero to five stars to rate wines, where one star is “acceptable”, two is quite good, three is recommended, four is highly recommended and five is awesome! Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher (Wall Street Journal) also use a five point system; they rates wines from OK to Good, Very Good, Delicious and Delicious(!).
The five point system allows for less precision but it is still very useful – it is the system commonly used to rate hotels and resorts, for example. ViniD’Italia, the Italian wine guide published by Gambero Rosso, uses a three-glasses scale that will be familiar to European consumers who use the Michelin Guide’s three-star scale to rate restaurants.
Which System if Best?
That depends… how you go about tasting and evaluating wine is different depending upon your purpose and perspective -
1) Critical wine evaluation to uncover the flaws in wine (to advise a winemaker, for example) is different than…
2) Commercial tasting (as the basis for ordering wine for a restaurant or wine distributor or perhaps buying wine as an investment) which is different than…
3) Consumer tasting to see what you like and for enjoyment!
The below rating system comparison table is available at below PDF “Attachments” download link
