"100" Point Systems

Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s
The
WINE
ADVOCATE®

"Parker is the most influential wine writer in the world... as quick with criticism as he is with praise and is universally regarded as incorruptible" (Los Angeles Times)

"By Dint of Talent and a Formidable Capacity for Thoroughness, Robert M. Parker, Jr. has become one the most respected American wine authorities" (The New York Times)

"The world's most experienced and trustworthy palate" (London Times)

The Wine Advocate

Founded in 1978 by Robert M Parker, Jr., the Wine Advocate is known as one of most influential and informative wine periodicals in the world. It has over 30,000 subscribers across the United States, and 37 foreign countries. It is published every two months and regularly rates and comments on wine from all over the world. Its founder, Robert Parker has been writing about wine for over twenty years. In January, 1993, Robert Parker became the first American in the wine field to receive from the President of France The Cross of the Knight of the National Order of Merit (La Croix de Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite). It is one of the two highest honors bestowed by the French President on individuals, the other being the prestigious Legion d'Honneur. Robert Parker, Jr. has also published many books on the subject of wine and contributes to many magazines such as Food & Wine.

Ratings System
90-100 is equivalent to an A and is given for an outstanding or special effort. Wines in this category are the very best produced of their type. There is a big difference between 90 and 99, but both are top marks. There are very few wines that make it into this top category.
80-89 is equivalent to a B in school and such a wine, particularly in the 85-89 range is very, very good; many of the wines that fall into this range often are great values as well.
70-79 represents a C, or average mark, but obviously 79 is a much more desirable score than 70. Wines that receive scores between 75 and 79 are generally pleasant, straightforward wines that lack complexity, character, or depth. If inexpensive they may be ideal for uncritical quaffing.
Below 70 is a D or F, depending on where you went to school. For wine, it is a sign of an imbalanced, flawed, or terribly dull or diluted product that will be of little interest to the discriminating consumer.
When possible all Parker's wine tastings are done in peer-group, single blind conditions, (meaning that the same types of wines are tasted against eachother and the producers' names are not known). The ratings reflect an independent, critical look at the wines. Neither price, nor the reputation of the producer/grower affect the rating in any manner. Scores, however, do not reveal the important facts about the wine. The written commentary that accompanies the ratings is a better source of information regarding the wine's style and personality, its relative quality level vis-à-vis its peers, and its value and its aging potential than any score could indicate.

Parker

Robert M. Parker Jnr is America's foremost wine critic and a world-renowned authority on the wines of Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley. He publishes a bi-monthly guide, The Wine Advocate (see www.wineadvocate.com), in which he rates wines out of 100, employing a somewhat controversial system (in reality it is a 51-point scale as all wines automatically receive 50 points - don't ask why. In fact most other point-based systems work this way - it is extremely rare to find a critic awarding a wine less than 10 points out of 20). Points are awarded as follows:

5 points   Colour and appearance
15 points  Nose
20 points  Palate and finish
10 points  Overall quality and future potential

It is fairly obvious then that a wine scoring 75 points is a very average one, which to Parker means a soundly made but straightforward wine with little distinction whereas 85 points means the wine is very good with character, flavour and finesse.
A 90-point wine shows exceptional character and complexity, whilst 96 to 100 points are rarely awarded.

James Halliday
98-100 Perfection which exists only as an idea
94-97 As close to perfection as the real world will allow
90-93 Excellent wine full of character; of gold medal standard
85-89 Very good wine; clear varietal definition/style; silver verging on gold medal standard
80-84 Good fault-free, flavoursome; high bronze to silver medal standard

And another perspective:
Hugh Johnson, heavyweight
Perhaps the most widely-read wine author in history, Hugh Johnson, has been ailing recently and is increasingly turning to "friends" for help in producing his World Atlas of Wine, now co-authored with Jancis Robinson, and his invaluable Pocket Wine Book 2002 (Mitchell Beazley, $19.95). The pocket-sized guide is comprehensive enough at 288 pages, but it is still far from completely authoritative - Johnson equates the syrah/shiraz varietal with petite sirah, which has been shown in DNA analysis to be a different grape.
The pocket guide has sold seven million copies and has endeared many to Johnson's insouciant wine scoring system, which starts with a sniff (his minimum score) and goes on to two sniffs, a sip, two sips, a glass, a bottle, a case, and ultimately the vineyard.

" What do you think of scoring by numbers up to 100?
"It's a very useful shortcut for people who don't want to make up their own minds or become involved, or even bother to read tasting notes. It's a fundamentally strange idea, that you can score quality. I've never seen it tried on works of art."