Understanding wine ratings
May 1, 2008
The Importance of Wine Ratings
Wine ratings help to decide and select right wine to buy. With all the different brands and flavors of wine that are available, it is no wonder that it can often be so difficult just trying to decide on a single one. There are a few things that you can do in order to make this process go by more smoothly however, namely educating yourself and reading up on wine ratings and reviews.
Commentary in Wine Reviews
Wine critics and wine publications that offer numeric ratings also write commentary about the wines they critique. Most critics stress that readers should refer to their commentaries at least as much as their numerical ratings to get a true sense of the wines’ qualities. You should be familiar with commonly used terms when critiquing wine, though all reviewers also come up with their own unique terms.
Astringent: Though not always a flaw, astringency results from courser tannins.
Balance: Essential in high quality wines; it describes a harmony of all elements.
Baked: A cooked character to the fruit elements in the wine resulting from grapes getting too
Hot in the sun.
Body: The expansiveness of a wine on the palate, usually relating to degrees of alcohol and
Sugar.
Clean: Suggesting a wine free of defects and having a fresh quality.
Dry: Usually a description indicating no taste of sugar in the wine, but might also describes an older wine that is losing all fruit qualities.
Understanding Wine Ratings
You should learn to read up on some wine ratings. This is important because wine ratings are basically the opinions of past consumers who have already purchased the various wines, and who are giving you firsthand opinions of what they thought of it. You should certainly not use these wine ratings alone to make your decision for you, but they could certainly play into your selection process. You can find wine ratings in a variety of places, but one of the best resources to you is probably going to be the Internet.
Wine Spectator’s 100-Point Scale
Wine Spectator is a longtime advocate of the popular 100-point rating scale. Wine Spectator editors describe there rating process like this: “Wines are always tasted blind. Bottles are bagged and coded. Tasters are told only the general type of wine (variety or region) and vintage. Price is not taken into account.” The magazine says its ratings are based on “potential quality, on how good the wines will be when they are at their peaks.” Here is how the magazine explains its scoring system:
Wine Ratings from Internet.
Wine ratings can be browsed at your pace and comfort on Internet. The speed and efficiency that the Internet offers is the biggest advantage to this tool. However, convenience is also a factor, since you can browse through these ratings and reviews from the comfort of your own home. Even if you just spend a small bit of time sifting through some of these reviews, you will be able to make much more educated decisions about your wine selections in the future.
Summary:
Wine ratings help to decide and select right wine to buy. Wine critics and wine publications that offer numeric ratings also write commentary about the wines they critique. You should learn to read up on some wine ratings. This is important because wine ratings are basically the opinions of past consumers who have already purchased the various wines. Wine ratings can be browsed at your pace and comfort on Internet. Wine Spectator is a long-time advocate of the popular 100-point rating scale. Wine critics and wine publications that offer numeric ratings also write commentary about the wines they critique.
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