The annoying points game: Winehog breaks the scale!

I have been giving ratings on the 100-point scale for more than 20 years (perhaps even 30), since I began reading the then-not-so-well-known reviewer (in Burgundy, at least) behind The Wine Advocate: Robert Parker.

This scale – with its usable interval of  50-100 points – is apparently the way to rate wines these days.

And with the 2018 Burgundies on their way to the tasting glass, I have been reflecting on the rating scale I and others use.

The infatuation with 100, and inflated ratings

In the beginning I loved this scale, being a numbers man. But slowly and surely irritation with this system began to set in. Notions like “Parker points” began to be used to indicate some kind of bias in the scores, although I must say that I admire the work of Robert Parker. We do not share the same palate, but he did score wines consistently, especially in Bordeaux. Burgundy was clearly more complex, and Parker never hit a “homerun” in Burgundy.

Burgundy now has Alan Meadows, and while his style is different, the rating of Burgundy wines is in safe hands there. Alan is doing a fine job rating greater and lesser Burgundies, and I admire his work. He is not, as some suggest, resting on his grand cru laurels. We also have Neal Martin and the Vinous crew – who are doing a fine job in more or less taking over the good side of the Parker setup. And they do know their Burgundies; I’m glad to see Neal back in form.

Lately we’ve seen other reviewers scoring Burgundies with more or less success. James Suckling is perhaps the most prominent of these, and he also uses the upper part of the 100-point scale (to the full, some might even add). Other writers are rating village wines above 95 points – some would argue this is “slightly” problematic consistency wise?

All in all, we are lucky to have so many qualified writers using the 100-point scale for evaluating the quality of Burgundian wines. I, the Winehog, am another – I’m sort of sad to say!

Why not break the scale?

To be honest, I have thought about dropping the 100-point scale many times, but reader demand for ratings has stopped me.

I don’t believe wine can be summarized – much less described – by a two digit number. I therefore hope that the textual, “poetic” evaluation of the wine, the producer, the vineyard and the vintage is what you take away from the Winehog.

I understand that ratings can be easily used to summarize wines in different contexts, and that they can give the busy collector a guide to a given region’s wines.