Wine Ratings and Scores Explained

Scrolling an endless page of bottles of wine and pages of producers, utterly unsure of what wine to bring home. Thankfully these days, with a few keystrokes, we can check wine ratings to help guide our search for the perfect bottle.

Wine ratings offer a simple, convenient snapshot of how experts and reviewers appraise a given wine or vintage. These scoring systems are a gift to wine drinkers of every level of expertise when shopping for the next great bottle to open.

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Checking out wine scores gives you a real advantage when navigating the sometimes overwhelming world of buying wine.

There are several scoring systems you may want to familiarize yourself with. We’ll take you through the main ones, so you can understand wine ratings like a pro.

Wine Rating Systems Explained

Browse online wine listings, and you’ll instantly encounter several rating systems.

The 100-point scale is the most common. Other wine point systems use 5-point or 20-point scales for scoring, we see the 20-point scale with the renowned UK-based critic Jancis Robinson.

The exact breakdown of the ratings varies across different competitions and publications, but a glance shows they’re relatively straightforward. As you’d expect, high-scoring wines are the crème de la crème, those coveted bottles ideal for aging, gifting, and special occasions. As for those low-scoring bottles? You’ll want to give them a miss (or maybe save for sangria or braising beef).

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The 100-Point Scale

The 100-point scale is effectively more of a 30-point system.

It’s used by virtually all the major publications, such as Wine Spectator, Decanter, and Wine Enthusiast, to name a few. The system was first devised by Robert M. Parker Jr., wine’s most influential critic, and has since become the industry standard.

So, now we’ve covered the 100-point system, how do the critics come up with these scores?

Straight out of the gate, a wine will receive 50 points for simply being wine. From there, up to five points are given for color and appearance and up to 15 points for the nose (i.e. aroma and bouquet). The flavor and finish are where the big points come into play—wines can earn up to 20 points in this category. Finally, up to 10 points go to overall quality.

The 20-point system works much like the 100-point wine system and looks at the same categories. If you’re more comfortable with the 100-point system, multiply the scores from a wine rated on the 20-point system by five for an approximation of how it might look scored out of 100.

96-100: these are the excellent wines, considered outstanding or classic for their type;
90-95: wines are superior to exceptional
85-89: wines are good to very good
80-84: wines in this range are above average to good
70-79: these wines are flawed and taste average
Under 70: when a wine scores below 70, it means there’s something fundamentally flawed with it, and it isn’t recommended

Why Use Wine Ratings?

What’s the point of the points?

Regardless of the system used, scoring wines offers a standardized way to communicate quality to consumers, enabling them to shop for wine with greater confidence and, hopefully, learn a thing or two about wine in the process. It’s no secret many people feel put off by the sheer volume of choices out there. Wine ratings remove some of the guesswork from the equation. No more selecting a bottle solely because of an attractive label.

Ultimately, it’s useful to remember that critics score wines, and everyone’s palate is subjective. What you loathe, a critic might love, and vice versa. A good way to use wine ratings when considering a bottle is to average the scores between various reviewers. Better still, if you encounter an expert with a similar palate, let them be your guide.

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What Other Ways Are There to Rank Wine?

There are other awards that rank wine and can be another way to help you choose wine.

TheInternational Wine and Spirits Competition, Decanter World Wine Awards, San Francisco International Wine Competition, USA Wine Ratings, and theSommeliers Choice Awards are a few of the most important competitions to remember. The judges in these competitions feature industry leaders, including Masters of Wine, professional critics, sommeliers, wine directors, and buyers.

Each competition has a different medal system, but if you’re eager to pick the best of the best, platinum, double-gold, and gold-medal wines are the top winners. But to earn an award at any of these competitions is no small feat, so silver and even bronze wines will still be tasty wines to enjoy.

How Else Can You Choose Wine?

While wine ratings can help shoppers, they’re far from the only way to select wine.

You can always seek personal recommendations from folks who enjoy similar styles or read reviews from experts you trust, whether that’s a well-known critic or the sommelier at your favorite restaurant.

Here are Laithwaites. we have Personal Wine Advisors who are our team of in-house wine experts on hand to chat with customers and help them with their wine choices.

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