Review and Rating Process

The 100-point wine rating system has become the benchmark of quality in the wine industry. If you have ever looked around for good value ’90-point’ wine, then you have used ratings. The system does rate some aspects of wine quite well, including production quality, but there are a few inconsistencies that you should know about in order to shop smart. 

See how wine ratings work, know their shortcomings, get a few pragmatic solutions that will improve how you buy wine. 

A Pragmatic Approach to Wine Ratings

How Wine Ratings Came to Be

Wine Ratings were first popularized in the 1980’s by one writer who went against the grain to rate wines for consumers. His name was Robert Parker. Today, Parker is the most recognized wine critic and his 100-point system is generally considered the standard scale by which the

critics rate wine. 

Wine Ratings Explained

Wine ratings don’t necessarily indicate how delicious a wine is. Instead, wines are scored based on production quality and typicity.

Typicity is how much the traits of a particular wine ‘typify’ the style and region it’s from. 

The 100-point Scale

How Wine Ratings Are Like Dog Shows

• The winning dog is the one that most typifies its breed. 

• If a dog has unique markings or funny legs not typical for the breed, it won’t be rated as high.

The 100-point scale actually starts at 50 points (and some raters never include wines below 80):

96-100 Points = Extraordinary Superior Quality

93-95 Points = Highly Recommended

90-92 Points = Excellent Way Above Average

88-89 Points = Very Good

85-87 Points = Average to Good

80-85 Points = Disappointing a best

70-79 Points = Wines are flawed and taste average

60-69 Points = Flawed and not recommended somewhat drinkable

50-59 Points = Wines flawed and undrinkable

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