Wineries and winemakers know that wine is complex and that rating a wine for its excellence is difficult. After all reaching master sommelier can take years. Some people like a very dry wine, some a bit of sugars helps their palate and so on. Some people like green pepper flavors in their Cabernet, and others even think this is a flaw. So the whole rating world is complex, but over the years it has gotten a bit more standardized and mature. To make it simpler the wine industry has come up with this scoring system, 100 points is perfection, 95-99 is classic, 90-94 is outstanding, and 80-89 is good wine. Meaning no major flaws.
Just because a wine is 88 points, doesn’t mean you won’t love it, that is a key takeaway from this article.
80-89 is a good and drinkable wine with some flaws, it is nothing bad, just not something that is worth paying more than standard prices for. Most of the world’s wine should be sold for between $10-50 as most people can’t afford $30-50+ a bottle on an “everyday” basis. Good wines in Europe for example still often sell for under 15 Euros. Wines that sell for $100-500+, well that is for people that can spend (too much) money. I know my mom still buys wine on price (oh mom!), when she doesn’t need to. But she really has never developed a palate so it doesn’t mean anything to her. If it is $8 and its one of her favorite varietals, she grabs it. I guess much of the wine drinking world falls in this category.
After all these rantings, you might be wondering, is it even worth it, these “complex” points. Probably not, most established wine makers are happy when their wine is a 90 point or better wine. If you see this rating even from 1 or 2 reviewers and you like this variety or region, go give it a try.
A great wine has a pronounced nose (or bouquet) to it, it is delicious on the palate, and finally delivers a finish (or after taste) that is making you want that next sip.
These are the 3 critical tasting phases, nose, palate, and finish. And the hardest part is the finish which often create complexity and nuances to the wines many flavors. Finding a wine with an exceptional and long finish is very difficult. It is always something I evaluate very carefully and great finishes are pretty rare! People often talk about the finishes, but in general amazing ones are as rare as 95+ point wine.
Also winemakers and wineries do play games with these point ratings. I saw a winery claim they had some 99 point Cabernet Sauvignon, but they did not show who gave those points in their posting online. Points should come from a reputable rating service. Reputable wine rating services are the following, and in no particular order, except the accessible and free one first:
Wine Enthusiast – very diverse set of raters, that work globally, free content!!
Wine Spectator – especially for Bordeaux blends, this team is exceptional.
Jeb Dunnuck – started with Rhone wines, and expanded globally.
Decanter – based in the UK, doing fine work in Europe and globally.
Wine Advocate (Robert Parker) – a vast wine rating service.
James Suckling – loves to do 100 lists that helps collectors grab the top shelf.
There are more but these are the major players today.
I would not trust rating numbers except from this list (*maybe Vinous too, but their data is locked down). And no, I pay no attention to this County Fair, or that State Fair. Those ratings mean little, as the fairs rarely have a well chosen list of well trained sommeliers doing the work with a consistent and evolving process, over years.
If you see a 90+ rating from any of these above noted expert organizations, then for sure this winery has some “exceptional” stuff and is worth a tasting. And wine itself has a lifespan, most wine does not improve with age, but rather lives on a curve. Some wines do improve, but that is a complex topic about tertiary flavors developed in the bottle. It is still your palate though, so drink up and be critical about what you like. Elegant and light; varied, big and bold. Fruit forward or oak me up to the moon. Tannic bomb, or spice box; figuring out all these notes, helps you find better wine that suits you. And trust me, supermarket wine is not where to spend most of your wine money. The best wine is direct to consumer and often within restaurants or fine wine stores that hire experts to bring in elite wines.
I do have a subscription to Jeb Dunnuck, mostly because his small team tries to go to some unique regions, and doesn’t just focus so hard on Bordeaux style grape varieties and wine making of the ultra oaked. He talks often of the Old World style of wines, and this helps, he also calls it Provencal. Although they all seem to gear their work to people with wine budgets well into the thousands of dollars per year. They don’t necessarily buy into light, old style wines or give them high points, because the system is geared towards aging, highly complex wines that have had expensive oak impart many notes into the wine so you get a very complex experience from the wine. You won’t find an old world styled Grenache getting 98 points with this philosophy. But that old world Grenache, or that lighter Zinfandel may be just what you like best?
Be aware of their methods! If you want to see these methods in action, check out Konstantin Baum. He often rates on this 100 point scale, and you’ll find that the more opulent, deep and rich the wine is, the higher the points. In his Merlot episode, you can watch how things go. When he gets to the tertiary bomb, 15.5% alcohol wine, you get him rating it at 98 points. You want a fruit forward or even medium bodied Merlot, good luck finding that any higher than maybe 90 points, and so in that sense this elegant bottle may actually be 100 points to you. You see this plays out on Vivino all the time. Those are the methods. And the older you get, the better fine, elegantly, made wine tastes. Peak fruit is really the best direction to head in. But hey that’s just me talking. The wine’s flaws can’t be as well hidden in this direction either.
Finally, thanks for reading this far if you have, one consolidator tool that is very searchable and offers e-commerce wine sales as their business model. They offer a history and collection of wine critic notes which is very helpful. This tool is called https://www.wine-searcher.com/ ….try it out.
Wine-searcher is perhaps better than Vivino for finding classic wines, because it gives you less crowd sourcing and more expert opinions in one place. Pay attention to the highest scores on the list, and what styles and comments you like best in the critic notes, and that could be a way to get to more clarity and less bias. You’ve learned the methods, now use them to your advantage.