Wine Rating Systems

Talk about a muddy field!  There are almost as many rating systems as there are people rating wines.  I have always liked the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simply Stupid) path myself.  When I was in the business a 90+ rating from either Robert Parker or The Wine Spectator would sell cases.  Let it be 89 not so much.  It always bother me that one simply point could affect the sales of a wine that was simply stellar.  We had to work twice as hard to get those wines in the consumer’s hands as the “rated” ones.  And more often than not the 89 pointers  were cheaper and better than their 90 point counter parts.

Ok Wino what is the KISS system to rate wines?  Well it’s the system Decanter Magazine uses.  If you haven’t ever seen a Decanter Magazine it’s in my opinion the purest of the wine publications on the magazine stand.  Pick up one if you are a budding “Cork Dork”.  The system is a 5 point system and is explained in the graphic attached to this post.  It also explains the other systems about as well as anything I have ever seen.

The Chart   From Janice Robinson site

So here we go and I am trying to commit to give you wines that are available in and around the villages and will let you know the shops that carry the wines.

Well here we go!!!

Cheers,

The Villages Wino