HOW W E RAT E W I N E S (a n d o th er th in gs)

Actual threshold of acceptability

Unfavorable Rating Theoritical threshold of acceptability Favorable Rating Perfection

1 0 0 P OI N T S C A LE S 50 60 70 80 90 100
REAL WORLD MODEL - US HIGH SCHOOL GRADING
In theory an F is failing but if you’re trying to use your grades for getting into a
College or University less than a B average won’t help much. F (Failing) D (Below Average) C (Average) B (Above Average) A (Excellent)

ROBERT PARKER/ WINE SPECTATOR The 100 point

system was introduced by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate in 1978. 50 60 70 80 90 95 100
Very much like its real world model, 60 or above is acceptable in theory
but in reality a rating under 80 can make a wine unsellable. As imitation
is the sincerest form of flattery, the Wine Spectator adopted Parker’s A wine deemed to be A below average wine containing An average wine with little A barely above average to An outstanding An extraordinary
system and helped make the 100 point system huge. unacceptable. noticeable deficiencies. . . distinction . . . very good wine. . . wine . . . wine . . .

WINE ENTHUSIAST Coming along 10 years later than the Wine

Advocate, its 100 point scale was calibrated to accept the new reality 80 83 87 90 94 98 100
that far fewer wines had inherent flaws and that there were too many
good wines to rate to dwell on merely average (sub-80) wines.
Not reviewed Acceptable Good Very Good Excellent Superb Classic

20 POI N T S C A LE S 10 12 14 16 18 20
REAL WORLD MODEL - FRENCH HIGHER EDUCATION
The French have successfully resisted many Anglo customs, including grade inflation,
which means you can still pass with a 10/20. Fail Passable Assez Bien Bien Très Bien Exceptionnel

UC DAVIS Developed in the 1950’s by Dr. Maynard Amerine, points are given for
the following categories: Appearance (2), Color (2), Aroma & Bouquet (4), Volatile 9 13 17 20
Acidity (2), Total Acidity (2), Sugar (1), Body (1), Flavor (1), Astringency (1), and General
Quality (2). Although it is still used, its criteria is now widely considered obsolete as it
comes from a time when making defect free wine was the primary concern. One Wines below Standard wines with neither Standard wines with neither Wines of outstanding
widely voiced criticism is that a fairy ordinary wine can easily score 17 points. commercial acceptability outstanding character or defect outstanding character or defect characteristics, no defects

JANCIS ROBINSON Before becoming a Master of Wine, she studied

Mathematics at Oxford but has never been completely comfortable with the relationship 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
of wine and numbers. Not denying the usefulness of such systems, she likes the 5 star
scale of Broadbent and Decanter but feels the 20 point scale allows more precision.
Unbalanced Deadly dull or Average but Superior A cut above superior A Humdinger Truly exceptional
Also note that her scale criteria is - in contrast to the Davis system - hedonistic and
or faulty borderline unbalanced distiguished
subject to the same grade inflation as most of the others. Out of politeness, perhaps?

5 S TA R S C A L E S
REAL WORLD MODEL - HOTEL STAR RATINGS 5 Star scales have been used for over 100 Clean, convenient Comfortable establishment Well-appointed Outstanding-worth One of the best
years to rate hotels but the criteria can differ greatly depending on the country and the reviewer. The system establishment with with expanded services establishment, with full a special trip in the country
shown here has been used since 1958 by Mobil Travel Guides to rate American hotels. limited services and amenities services and amenities

MICHAEL BROADBENT He’s been tasting professionally for over 50 years NO STARS
using the 5 star scale. For purposes of this chart, and accounting for British reserve Poor Not very good, Moderately Good Good Very good Outstanding
his “Good” translates to “Very Good” in other parts of the world. but not bad

DECANTER The main British wine mag uses Broadbent’s system but in practice
they rarely publish any ratings below 3 stars. In other words “Quite Good” or less is a
polite way of saying “Rubbish.” Acceptable Quite Good Recommended Highly Recommended Decanter Award

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher don’t use stars but their
system can be considered a five star scale. “Delicious!” is very rarely used (~0.1% of the time) much Yech OK Good Very Good Delicious Delicious!
like 100 in the 100 point scales.

4 STAR SCALES
NEW YORK TIMES The New York Times uses a four star scale that seems to have
began with newspaper movie reviews. Mediocrity isn’t big in New York so the ratings skip NO STARS
right over the merely “Good” going from “Passable” to “Very good”. The San Francisco Pass it by Passable Very Good Excellent Extraordinary
Chronicle adopted a similar 4 star system earlier this year.

3 s ta r S C A L E S
REAL WORLD MODEL - MICHELIN RESTAURANT GUIDES A very good restaurant Excellent cooking, Exceptional cuisine,
Just getting one star is a big deal - if wines were rated like this, there would be very few rated. in its category worth a detour worth a special journey

GAMBERO ROSSO The major Italian wine publisher awards “Tre Bicchieri” (three wineglasses) like
Michelin Stars but the equivalent scores out of 100 that they provide seem too low. Hasn’t anyone told them that Above average to good in its Very good to excellent in its Excellent in its category,
under 80/100 spells doom for any winemaker? category, equivalent to 70-79/100 category, equivalent to 80-89/100 equivalent to 90-99/100

WINE X MAGAZINE “Our recommendation system has absolutely nothing to do with numbers”. X XX XXX
They don’t really have anything to do with the Michelin 3 star scale either but it only seems natural that
their highest ranking is triple-X. Recommended (Gets it Done) Highly Recommended (Killer Kine) Exceptionally Cool

S I GNI F I C A N T r ating sy stems not adopt ed by t he wine world

BOND RATING SCALES If Robert Parker had chose a bond D CC CCC- CCC CCC+ B- B B+ BB- BB BB+ BBB- BBB BBB+ A- A A+ AA- AA AA+ AAA
rating scale like this one by Standard and Poors as his model, his
influence may not have been what it is today.
Junk Speculative Grade Investment Grade

INTERNET 5 STAR RATINGS This system developed by

[Link] for book and product ratings has become prevalent
throughout the internet. However, giving two stars to something you
don’t like doesn’t seem like an improvement to the existing 5 star wine I hate it I don’t like it It's OK I like it I love it
rating scales.

© 2006 De Long Company, [Link]