By Robyn James, Proprietor

The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room

With the continuing popularity of wine consumption in the United States, the market is awash with numerous publications and magazines providing information and reviews about wine.  The most popular two publications among wine aficionados are The Wine Spectator and The Wine Advocate. Subscribers anxiously await the arrival of their Spectator and Advocate, pouring through the buying guides to search for the most highly rated wines.  Each magazine employs the 100 point scale, rating about 300 wines per issue on a scale of 1-100. 

Robert Parker, the publisher of The Wine Advocate, was the first to use the 100 point scale in 1978 with his first issue.  It didn’t take long for The Wine Spectator to follow suit.  Both taste wines in a somewhat similar fashion.  Bottles are bagged and coded in order to be tasted blind in most cases.  Neither likes to taste at the wineries, but it is unavoidable in Bordeaux and some California Cabernet estates where it is important to taste from the barrel and hence, know exactly what you are tasting.  Both claim that price is not known and is not a factor in their tastings.

Even though critics say they are using a 100 point scale, usually the wine is given 50 points just for making it into the bottle. 

The practice of assigning “scores” has had an extraordinary effect on the wine market.  They enable potential investors and traders to take a position without necessarily knowing anything about the wine themselves.  They empower new wine drinkers to make decisions independently of wine traders, and they allow new, good wine producers to make a name for themselves and their wines very much faster than ever before.

The downside, for wine drinkers, is that prices inevitably rise steeply. 

My question is what defines the perfect wine, the wine that receives a perfect 100 points from Advocate and Spectator?

The Wine Advocate describes what they consider a wine that receives 96-100 points as:  “An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety.  I think wines of the caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.”

He elaborates on his method:  “In terms of awarding points, my scoring system gives every wine a base of 50 points.  The wine’s general color and appearance merit up to 5 points.  Since most wines today are well made, thank to modern technology and the increased use of professional oenologists, they tend to receive at least 4, often 5 points.  The aroma and bouquet merit up to 15 points.  The flavor and finish merit up to 20 points, and again, intensity of flavor, balance, cleanliness, and depth and length on the palate are all important considerations when giving out points.  Finally, the overall quality level of potential for further evolution and improvement –again-merits up to 10 points.”

The Wine Spectator simply states:  a wine that receives 95-100 points is “Classic, a great wine.”

Each year, The Wine Spectator publishes a list of their top 100 Wines of the Year, causing a frantic rush among consumers and retailers to locate and purchase those wines making the coveted “cut”.  In most cases, the wines are long sold out.

What can a perfect 100 score do for a winery?  Make it a lot of money, that’s what.  I have seen wines for sale for five times the stated cost prior to the score.  That’s if you are lucky enough to even be able to find them.

In my research, I find that Robert Parker has awarded the perfect score to no less than 140 wines since 1978.  The Wine Spectator is much stingier.  Only 71 wines have achieved that status.  Red Bordeaux definitely dominate both lists of perfection, but aside from that category, the lists are very democratic. 

We may never taste perfection, but we certainly can read about it.  Here are some descriptions of those wines, try not to drool while reading.

THE WINE SPECTATOR

            GAJA BARBARESCO, SORI TILDIN,

ITALY, 1990

“Absolutely ranks with the finest wines in the world. 

Spicy, rich and concentrated, a laser beam of berry and

Plum flavor arcing through the smooth-textured tannins,

shooting off sparks of anise, toasty vanilla and tar. 

An electric wine with power, polish, subtlety and grace.

RATED 100 POINTS

S.A. HUET VOUVRAY, CUVEE CONSTANCE,

FRANCE, 1997

“Extraordinarily rich.  An amazing amount of botrytis gives

this sweet white a powerful, spicy character, its masses of ripe

fruit kept lively by electrifying acidity.  So concentrated it tastes

as though all the flesh has evaporated, leaving only the spirit behind.

Will easily last your lifetime and mine.”

RATED 100 POINTS

THE WINE ADVOCATE

GREENOCK CREEK SHIRAZ CREEK BLOCK,

AUSTRALIA, 2001

“A perfect wine, the magnificent shiraz exhibits notes of burning embers, melted road tar, truffles, blackberries, and crème de cassis.  With huge glycerin and a full-bodied, sensational finish, it represents the essence of wine.”

RATED 100 POINTS

CHATEAU PAVIE, BORDEAUX, 2000

“This extraordinary blend is unquestionable one of the most monumental wines

Bordeaux has ever produced.  The bouquet offers up notes of liquid minerals,

Blackberries, cherries, and cassis intermixed with spice box, cedar, and white flowers.  On the palate, it exhibits a massive display of richness and extract, yet

With pinpoint delineation and vibrancy as well as a 60+ second finish,

This is the kind of phenomenal wine that the winemaker’s critics were

Afraid he might produce – a no-compromise, immortal wonder that represents the

essence of one of Bordeaux’s greatest terroirs.  Life is too short not

To own and consume the 2000 Pavie.”

RATED 100 POINTS