Criticizing the Critics

We go to the store, be it a wine shop, a liquor store, a supermarket, a package store, or even convenience store looking to buy wine. Perhaps we see bottle tags touting that this wine received some particular score from some critic. When we see that the score started with a 9, our eyes perk up and if the digit after the 9 is a higher one rather than lower, hearts beat faster. We very rarely see that coveted 100 point score because there just aren't that many of them and most wines that get them have such limited allocation that you and I will not likely see them.

According to the legends that go with those rating scales, 100 is supposed to be reserved for a perfect wine, 95-99 for extraordinary, 90-94 for excellent, and so on. Each critic has their own way of assessing a wine. Wine Advocate, for example, puts a real premium on ageworthiness. You might not care. Wine Advocate also likes fruit forward wines. This might not be your style. Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast seem to have similar criteria, but my observation is that Wine Enthusiast will grade wines about 2 points higher, on average. When you see a 95 point wine from Wine Spectator, it's likely to be pretty darn special, but it probably takes about a 97 from Wine Enthusiast to be in the same league.

Then, there is Allen Meadows, also known as Burghound. He focuses only on one grape -- Pinot Noir -- and while he originally reported only on those from Burgundy, he also covers Oregon and California. If your Pinot Noir gets 95 points from Burghound, you are in the stratosphere. Meadows ascribes to a similar classification in that 95-99 points is extraordinary, but he thinks that those ratings should be given extremely sparingly. So, if that Pinot Noir you are looking at has a bottle tag that says, for example, 94 points from Burghound, that wine is likely to be rocking and rolling. Add to that that unless one has been released recently, Burghound has never awarded a 100. That is, Mr. Meadows has not yet found a perfect Pinot Noir.

But, prior to Robert Parker's coverage of the 1982 Bordeaux vintage as he created Wine Advocate, the standard scale was 20 points. And, there were no words to go with it. Go back to the 1976 Judgement of Paris that put California wine on the global map. Stags Leap was the big winner taking the red wine crown. But, perhaps the most interesting dispute was over the Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard. Patricia Gallagher scored it 17 points on a scale of 20. Odette Kahn scored it 2.

Who was right? Well, the both were, according to their own senses.

Perhaps most noteworthy, however, was that no wine, and these were considered some of the greatest wines in the world, scored higher than 17 points. That's right; no scores of 18, 19, or 20 were given. And, a score of 2 points did not mean a wine was undrinkable. 

So, how do we believe the critics?