Wine Ratings Explained

As always, our goal at Bottle Barn is to help you choose the wines that are best for you. After all, you are the most important judge of the wine you drink. We know that the wine selection is vast and choosing a wine can be overwhelming, so to give you a balance of information.

While ratings may influence your decision, the ultimate judgment is yours. It's important to remember that everyone has a different palate and different preferences, so basing purchases on ratings may not garner the perfect wine match for your tastes. When you do purchase for ratings sake, you'll soon learn which publications or tasters possess your style of palate, which will help in future wine selection.

Wine Spectator The beauty of this system is that each wine region is the sole jurisdiction of one editor who has, after much time and grueling research, developed an expertise in that region's offerings. During a tasting, other editors are on hand and can certainly offer opinions, but the final say comes from that main editor. This is the kind of system that is conducive to that learning which palate is like yours.

All tastings are conducted "blind." Tasters are told only the general type of wine (varietal or region) and the vintage. If a wine tastes corky or flawed in a major way, or if it scores below 70, a new bottle of the same wine is tasted again. By the same token, wines that score very highly are re-tasted to confirm such favorable first impressions.

European wines are sometimes tasted in the districts that yield them, where fresher, perfectly stored examples will be readily available. Ratings are based on how good a wine will be when it reaches its peak, regardless of how soon that will be. If barrel samples are being rated rather than finished wines, that is revealed, since a world of difference can exist between these two stages of a wine's life.

Following is Wine Spectator's 100-Point Scale and what it indicates: 95-100 -- Classic; a great wine
90-94 -- Outstanding; superior character and style
80-89 -- Good to very good; wine with special qualities
70-79 -- Average; drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
60-69 -- Below average; drinkable but not recommended
50-59 -- Poor; undrinkable, not recommended

The Wine Advocate Robert Parker is a renowned wine critic and publisher of The Wine Advocate. Robert Parker's journal is a well-established source for wine consumers worldwide. To generate ratings, Parker spends three months each year tasting in vineyards. He devotes the other nine months of the year solely to tasting and writing. The ratings, which are based on a 50-100 point quality scale, reflect his independent, very critical look at wine.

Tastings are conducted in peer group, single-blind conditions, which means the same types of wines are tasted against each other and the wineries' names are not revealed. Therefore, neither price nor the reputation of the winery influences the rating in any way. As many of the wines rated have been tasted several times, the scores represent a cumulative average of the wine's performance in tastings to date. Overall, the score assigned to a specific wine reflects the quality of the wine at its best.

With The Wine Advocate scoring system, each wine starts with a base of 50 points. The wine's general color and appearance merit up to 5 points. The aroma and bouquet merit up to 15 points, flavor and finish merit up to 20 points and, finally, the overall quality level or potential for further evolution and improvement-aging merits up to 10 points.

Following is The Wine Advocate's 100-Point Scale and what it indicates: 96-100 -- Extraordinary; a classic wine of its variety
90-95 -- Outstanding; exceptional complexity and character
80-89 -- Barely above average to very good; wine with various degrees of flavor
70-79 -- Average; little distinction beyond being soundly made
60-69 -- Below average; drinkable, but containing noticeable deficiencies
50-59 -- Poor; unacceptable, not recommended

Wine Enthusiast Also using the 100-point scale, Wine Enthusiast ratings are based on tastings by the magazine's editors and other qualified tasting panelists, either individually or in a group setting. Tastings are conducted blind or in accordance with accepted industry practices. Price is not a factor in assigning scores to wines. Only wines scoring 80 points or higher are published. When possible, wines considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted to confirm intitial impressions.

About the Wine Enthusiast Scores
Ratings reflect editors' conclusions regarding a particular wine.95-100 -- Superb. One of the greats.
90-94 -- Excellent. Extremely well made and highly recommended.
85-89 -- Very good. May offer outstanding value if the price is right.
80-84 -- Good. Solid wine, suitable for everyday consumption.

Other Publications Wine & Spirits, Steven Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Connoisseurs Guide and The Wine News all use the 100-point system, said to have originated with Robert Parker's scoring. The scale is similar to those of the above publications in their score to quality ratio.