It’s generally true that wine professionals, whether producers, educators or wine journalists, can recognize wines of quality and categorize them into one or another scoring system. It’s also true that while each may apply a different rating scale for wine, they’ll often be within the ballpark of each other. That’s the benefit of an experienced palate.
What does this mean for the average consumer? First, it often means that a good score will end up on the bottle in the form of a sticker. It’s an efficient, short-hand way of marketing the wine to you. You see a 90-point score and you think, “ Ooh that’s the wine for me. So and so says it’s 90 points, and that means it must be good.” Possibly.
But who’s saying it, and do you even know who they are?
The industry is filled with wine critics, and those whose names are most familiar have not just boatloads of experience, but have also contributed significantly to the world of wine.
The Baltimore-born lawyer Robert Parker first published The Wine Advocate in 1978 and out of that grew the most famous wine scoring system still used today: the 100-point scale.
My preferred wine publication, the British Decanter Magazine, uses a five-star system while the Italian journal Gambero Rosso uses three glasses (tre bicchieri).
The legendary Jancis Robinson developed her 20-point scale in response to the 100-point system because, as she’s rightly pointed out, no wine under 80 points gets reviewed in any case.
Her friend and collaborator, that other great British wine journalist, Hugh Johnson, has some candid thoughts on the 100-point system that is worth the short read. It gives insights into the uses of scores that the average person may not have considered.
But back to you, the reader and consumer: which scores can you trust? Surely all of them because well… these folks are professionals. So if a professional tells me that the wine is worth 90 points, it must surely taste like it. Yet how do YOU know?
My advice, if you are truly interested in wine beyond just the pleasure of drinking it, is to taste as much as possible. Over time, you will develop an understanding of which grape varietals, styles, and countries most resonate with you.
Certainly make notes in a journal, indicating the name and vintage of the wine and how much you paid. Read books on wine and spend less time researching online, as that can make you bonkers with conflicting information.
I would also suggest taking classes from recognized wine professionals in your area and then start reading the various well-known critics.
Once you have narrowed down your wine interests (in my case I have a deeper appreciation for Old World wines), you will then automatically understand which wine writers speak most to you.
While Robert Parker is clearly talented, the sorts of wines he enjoys (often described as over-extracted, alcoholic and bombastic) are less to my liking. Instead I much more respect the work of Jancis Robinson. Learning which wine writers to follow is in a sense: a self-discovery.
Point scores should be viewed as being on a sliding scale. By their very nature they can’t be accurate. There’s an excellent 2006 article in the New York Times by Gary Rivlin (you can read it if you have a NYT subscription) that addresses the folly of the 100 point system.
For me a key problem of the 100-point scale, is that it does nothing to educate the consumer and can lead to making them lazy. If you’re buying wine based simply on the sticker score, don’t ever let anyone hear you say that you’re a “wine lover” because the truth is, you’re simply not doing the work. And a wine education is work.
Scores can also be misleading. I’ve written before about the Italian wine “critic” Luca Maroni, who’s notorious for applying outrageously high scores to Italian wines. It seems to be a business model that works for him but it puts him at odds with most other critics. German Master of Wine Konstantin Baum has an excellent video on Maroni that is worth watching.
Maroni’s high scores can be found on many bottles at the LCBO and as I’ve said before, if you want a more accurate picture of the wine, immediately deduct 10 points from his score on the sticker.
In my wine reviews, I eschew points outright preferring that someone actually reads the work rather than relying on a numbered shortcut.
During my winemaking studies in Niagara I ran my own wine review website and I did make a concession to a rating scale. It was however alphabetical and went as follows: Exceptional, Very Good, Good and Unnecessary (a wine that didn’t need to be made).
I realize now what a Pandora’s Box I opened for myself with this topic because I have much more to say on the subject.
Yes, wine ratings can be a useful tool for those consumers that have educated themselves on wine and the critics behind the ratings.
For the majority however, wine scores are nothing more than a marketing strategy to make the average person feel that they are now part of the inner circle of some famous wine writer. As with so many other things in life, we’re buying bragging rights.