
This wine-scoring game seems to have folks on the edge of their seats. Game over?
There’s a proposal circulating among us wine bloggers to adopt a standard approach to how we rate wine. In a recent post, fellow blogger Tim Elliott of WineCast asks, Is it possible for wine bloggers to choose a single rating system?
I would first ask if points are really important to wine drinkers who are other than American.
But don’t get me wrong — I like Tim. He writes thought-provoking stuff, and often rides in the front seat of the roller coaster that is the vinosphere. But it isn’t clear to me why he’s asking the question.
Is it possible? Yes. But probable? Call me an iconoclast, but I’m in favor of diversity of opinion/ratings/etc., only because entropy is such a natural thing. Why attempt to control it? Just on general principles, I’d be loath to see us all adopt the same points system if only to be different than the 100-point wine scoring systems of Robert Parker and his ilk.
However, if we were to collectively adopt one rating system among us vinoscenti, I think we need to remind ourselves who our audiences are. Do we wish to provide a lowest-common-denominator approach, or do we wish to lead, educate, and raise the bar for our audiences?
Sometime ago I adopted the 20-point UC Davis method as my personal Goldilocks choice. It wasn’t nearly as mincingly complex as Parker et al., but not so simple that I didn’t learn anything (e.g., a five-star system). Like Goldilocks’ experience with the three bears, this 20-point method was just right to me.
Frankly, when I taste and score a wine, I want to break it down into its component attributes (aroma, body, balance, finish, etc.), and I use a 20-point Wine Scoring Sheet for that purpose. I can reference the sheet later when I want to remember more than just the notion of I liked the wine and how much, instead preferring to remember why I liked the wine. With the sheet, I can see this breakdown at a glance, and I can also review any notes I’ve written, even compile group scores to determine a group favorite wine.
In fact for groups, the sheet is a good teaching tool. My tasting groups learn a few things from the sheet when we use it to compare against similar wines (e.g., vini bianchi di Toscana). By contrast, I can’t learn or distinctively compare wine using a five-star system; it seems too open to interpretation and wanting for additional clarification. It therefore provides less value to me and, by extension, to my audience.
And value – perceived or otherwise – is what is at stake here.
~winehiker