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2buckwhore
4 posts
Jan 11, 2007
1 year, 6 months ago
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1Wine rating scale?
Can you please give some guidance on how to rate wines?
It might be nice to post the info on your site as a pop-up link from the wine rating page.
Thanks!
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John
50 posts
Jan 12, 2007
1 year, 6 months ago
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2Re: Wine rating scale?
Hi 2bw,
We're about to release a bunch of new features, one of them is a simple "scoring key" so that you can quickly see what score correlates to what quality level.
The scoring system deserves its own entire website however. Apparently even the pros have barely standardized on what 90 points means, and especially w/ the lower end of the scale. For example, the 50-75 point range is totally subjective depending on what "pro" you are referring to.
Ayways, sometime this weekend (1/12/07-1/14/07) we'll be updating the site. Check back soon and thx for post.
J
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John
50 posts
Jan 05, 2008
6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Captain Caveman
29 posts
Jan 21, 2008
6 months ago
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4Re: Wine rating scale?
It's important to note that different publications rate wines differently. This is primarily due to the fact that different publications tailor their reviews to suit different audiences.
While I don't speak for the various publishers, here's a few points that I've found usefull when trying to reconcile a review with my own tastings or review vs. review.
Wine and Spirits is primarily targeted towards restaurants and bars, so their reviews tend tobe more favorable to wines which are ready to drink now. They also review liquor, so their bias tends to consumers who enjoy alcoholic beverages in general.
The Wine Spectator on the other hand is geared primarily toward the collector and enthusiast of wine. So their reviews tend to be more generous to wines which will require or benefit from cellaring.
The Wine Enthusiast is also geared specifically toward wine lovers.
Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate is focused on consumer activism, so factors like production/availability and value tend to be given great weight, as well as the overall quality of the wine. Parker also eschews advertising in his publication
The International Wine Cellar, published by Steven Tanzer is also consumer oriented, though Steve's palate tends more toward the classic, European profile rather than the stereotypical California.
Other publications have other factors that form their biases, things like is the wine "cool", or does it have a cute name or a funny gag associated with it. While we might scoff, things like this do sell wine.
The most important thing to remember is that a review is simply one person's opinion (or in vinquires case, an average of many individual opinions). While there are undoubtetly empirical criteria which inarguably contribute to the overall quality of wines, the experience of tasting wine is entirely subjective and your opinion will depend enirely upon the qualities that are important to you relative to your own experience.
When I asked a colleague what a point was, he said "I think that's what pokes through a sweater on a cold day" If that's true, then two should be plenty.
Look, trying to figure out what a real "90 pointer" is, is very much similar to figuring out what a real "two thumbs up" movie looks like (Was that worth both thumbs, or is it more of a one thumb and a toe?). The truth is there is no such thing, but if you follow an individual reviewer and take enough of their recommendations, eventually you'll find out whether or not that reviewers palate is a viable guide for you, and from there find a reasonable basis to make buying decisions.
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