What do wine points mean

In fact, most wines are not rated and that's okay - it doesn't make them bad wines. But if they were scored and did poorly, their marketers won't be talking about it. How do the scorers come up with the rating?

The current point scale was popularized by Wine Critic Robert Parker of Wine Advocate, and derived from an earlier point system from University of California- Davis. While this appears simple, it requires a trained palate to differentiate on each of these scales.

It's actually quite hard to get a high score on this evaluation as a lot of things have to be done right. The point scale took over and most rating organizations use it at this point. You will occasionally see a wine rated on a point scale. While it isn't exact, I just multiply by five to translate. Over time, some winemakers have learned how to prep for the test and try to deliver wines that are designed to score well. In some cases, they have learned the taste profile of some famous tasters and shifted their wines to be pleasing to them.

This has been called "Parkerization" of wines to match the preferences of famed wine critic Robert Parker. This means he might score it well, but unless your palate is like his -- you might not!

Should you always look for highly rated wines? My advice is to find areas of the world and grapes that you prefer and maybe even some specific estates that have a house style you prefer. If you want to chase scores within that area, it probably isn't a problem. Just realize you can't compare an 88 point Napa Cabernet with an 88 point French Champagne.

Also realize this has become more of a marketing effort than an effort to make amazing wines, so take it all with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, when people ask me if a wine is a good wine, my response is to ask if they enjoy it. If they do, I respond. We've all been to a show that the critics didn't love, but we enjoyed immensely. Wine is the same way. I mean, I'm likely to read the review because I'm interested in buying that wine.

So why would I read that review of an 85 point Napa Cabernet if I could read the review of a 91 point Napa Cabernet from the same vintage at about the same price? In a completely unscientific bit of research I went back to the June 30, issue of Wine Spectator. In it, wines were scored.

Included among these wines was a vertical of Krug Champagne, none of which score below a The average score of a wine reviewed in that issue is Cursory looks at other issues from this era reveal similar scoring. I then went to the current issue, June 15, and of the wines reviewed the average score is Here is what Wine Spectator says its ratings mean: Classic: a great wine Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style Very good: a wine with special qualities Good: a solid, well-made wine Mediocre: a drinkable wine that may have minor flaws Not recommended.

I then went back and looked at every issue of The Wine Spectator published this year. Of the hundreds and hundreds of wines reviewed in the five issues this year, only two wines received a score of A mere handful were between 81 and 84 points and no wines were rated 79 or below.

In that one issue from however, 26 wines scored 79 or below. In today's market that wine might as well be used to strip paint because it would never sell if the score were revealed to the consumer. So, based on the above scale, this year Wine Spectator has not tasted one wine that it rates as less than a good, solid, well-made wine.

Not one. It could be argued that the skills of today's wine makers and the farmers who grow their grapes are on a level that far exceeds those of the people doing the same jobs 14 years ago. But when you think about it, it's as if today Wine Spectator gives 75 points for the product just being wine. And then another 5 points if it isn't horrible wine. It's important to note that both Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate taste the wines that they are scoring blind more often than not.

Blind tasting means those who are tasting do not know what the wine is when they score it. Also, typically the wines being scored are submitted by winemakers and distributors. Next, I looked at wines on the very top end of the scale to see if their scores have changed over time. I took the Wine Spectator Top issue in which it reveals the top wines that it finds most interesting.

These aren't always the highest scoring wines of the year but the top scorers are almost always included in the list.

In the average score of the Top wines was In the average of the Top was So it's not like the top end wines are being rated significantly higher by Wine Spectator. If no wine tasted this year by Wine Spectator scored less than an 80 and the maximum score is , then what we're really dealing with is a 20 point system. Exactly what Parker and Morgenroth rallied against.

Add to that the fact that only a small handful of wines fall between 81 and 84 points, it's really closer to a 15 point scale. Then take into account that only rarely does a wine exceed 95 points and all of a sudden what you, the consumer, are looking at is only a 10 point scale between 85 and 95 points.

Now, knowing what we've learned about current scoring trends, what is the person who only buys wines scoring over 90 points really buying? He has no idea, because he's only looking at a number that actually says very little about what's inside the bottle. Same grape, same vintage, same score, completely different wine. So, you see, the score is really only part of the equation you should follow when choosing a wine, and quite frankly, the score should be among the last things you consider.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many areas around the globe, like Southern Italy and Jura in France produce many outstanding wines that rarely get rated at all. If, while shopping for wines, you're only looking at scores, you might be overlooking not only some great wine, but some great deals.

Finally, and this is a biggie, when you see that sign touting a score on a particular wine be very careful to see where that score came from.