Ratings 101

Ratings: What they might and might not mean

 

Ratings have become a central part of the wine industry as consumers rely on them to make decisions about what is a “good” wine, retailers use them to push specific products over another and (some) wineries chase them knowing their potential impact. But are ratings really useful to make a broad judgement on wine? And is the consumer substituting the need for a greater understanding of their own preferences and details about the wines they like at their own peril? Maybe.

Wine ratings have the potential to become a substitute for consumers to engage in details. Details about the winemaker, where the grapes are from, details of the growing season and many other smaller details were washed away by a simple scoring system. A consumer could consider the price and the rating from ostensibly a qualified professional and make an informed decision about the quality, desirability and value of the wine. Relying on ratings alone eliminates the need to fully understand one’s own preferences.

Consumers seem quick to trust a number from a professional rater, but who rates the raters? In other words, how can a consumer be confident that the person who is rating the wine is qualified to render an objective, informed opinion on what is good wine? And given the subjectivity of wine and the natural biases of both consumers and raters, how can a consumer be sure that they are a match stylistically and from a quality standpoint with the rater they are relying on to help make their decision?. The short answer is they can’t. There is no wine rater certification. There is no specific qualification that establishes a wine rater as legitimate. In fact, the original “big three” – Robert Parker, Wine Spectator, and Wine Enthusiast - were simply self-proclaimed professionals.

UC Davis established the 20 point rating system with 20 being the best. Robert Parker is widely considered the father of the numerical wine rating on a 100 point scale. The concern with the 20 point scale was grade inflation, which is something that many believe threatens the 100 point scale today.

If we accept wine ratings in their purest form, meaning a 90 is better than an 89 and a 92 is better than a 91, then isn’t it important to know what the difference between a 92 and a 91 is? Beyond one number being higher than the other it’s not clear what the measurable difference between the two wines is.

Wine evolves in the glass and the bottle. Some wines benefit from bottle aging while some wines don’t. Some wines are built to make the first sip the best sip while others seek an evolution in the glass that leaves the consumer thinking the last sip was the best sip. Most consumers will open a bottle of wine for a meal or to share with friends over an evening. So when is a wine rated? Typically with a taste after being opened, and therefore the rating may reflect that first experience and not account for the certain evolution that is going to take place.

Most wineries submit their wine for rating before it is released. Some even submit barrel samples for consideration. If wine is certain to evolve is it possible to capture a wine’s true essence at such a young age? Or does the rater account for the current quality of the wine. For instance, today this wine is an 89 but in five years its likely to be a 95. If the rater is making these calculations it’s difficult for the consumer to know that, and you can be certain that the transition also works in the opposite direction for some products. Released as a 95 and in five years it’s an 89.

Raters aren’t going through an entire bottle to see how it changes over the course of the meal of course that would be impractical. But every wine changes over time – for better or for worse. So the judgement of the rater is merely a snap shot in time and it’s possible it’s the time when the wine does not show its true self.

Most raters make clear that they taste wines “blindly” and in batches with other wines. Does that mean that the rater is comparing the wine to other wines in the batch or making a broader judgment?

It seems that ratings are not, or don’t seem to be, delineated by price therefore 92 = 92. Wouldn’t that mean that everyone should only buy cheaper wine with good scores? It’s impossible for the factors that went into producing a $100 plus wine to equal the factors that went into producing a $20 wine. Presumably the higher priced wine paid more for grapes and presumably the reason those grapes were more expensive is because they are a better quality. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of great inexpensive wines, it’s just to highlight whether the same rating for a $20 wine means the same thing for a $100 wine?

The simple conclusion from a rating is that the wine tastes good to the rater. Is there a need to factor in quality of manufacturing? Some wineries use processes to manipulate wine like Mega purple to add color, oak chips to add flavor and reverse osmosis to address impurities. Is it a quality of manufacturing or a wow factor according to their own taste? Some wineries consider these processes less than pure. Should how the wine is manufactured be a consideration for a rater? As a consumer, I would want to know.

It used to be when you were looking for wine ratings you were limited to the “big three” for a number. Today wine ratings and rankings come from all sorts of sources. Social media has provided a powerful platform for both wine experts and enthusiasts to opine about wines and provide a rating. The result is an explosion of ratings.

Finally, raters are defining perfection. The 100 point rating suggests the wine is perfect and has no peer with the exception of other 100 point rated wines. But when Mira participated in a blind tasting of wine experts with a 100 point rated Cabernet Sauvignon, the Mira Schweizer Vineyard bested it. A trophy for Mira for sure, but at the same time we don’t believe there is perfection in wine.

It all leaves us and hopefully you with more questions than answers. Hopefully the result will be more questions. More questions about the wine. More questions about the type/style of wine you enjoy. And more questions about what a wine rating really is and isn’t.