Norm’s Tasting Notes: ‘How Wine is Scored’
The North Georgia Wine Advisor
“How Wine is Scored”
#30-2021
I have been asked on numerous occasions how to interpret the number scores associated with wine reviews. There are of course a variety of scoring systems used by the thousands of wine writers out there. The best known is probably the “Wine Spectator” magazine, which has been around for about thirty five or forty years now. Shown below is their rating system as well as my own.
The Wine Spectator System:
• 95-100 = Classic
• 90-94 Outstanding
• 85-89 Very Good
• 80-84 Good
• 75-79 Mediocre
• 50-74 Not Recommended
The North Georgia Wine Advisor System:
• 95-100 Great
• 90-94 Very Good
• 85-89 Good
• 50-84 Not worth writing about
(There are so many good wines on the market, that there is no reason to write about one which does not score at least an 85)