Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wine scoring - what do you want to see

Wine Scoring - what do you want to see?

I'm at the crossroads.

After growing up (in a sense) with one scoring scale - the 20 point Australian wine show scoring - I'm seriously considering switching over to the 100 point format (for published tasting notes at least).

Some of the more regular readers of this website will notice that I have been toying with both scales for a little while now, so in a way I'm already half way there. Yet the question remains, should I be using the 100 point system exclusively? Is the 100 point system, which you'd argue is now the default scoring scale used in Australia, NZ, USA, South Africa & the rest, the most easy to understand of the points scores?

Now, I understand that lots of people have objections to scoring wines (and I totally respect the objections), but I don't really want to argue the merits of scoring wine per se, what I am more interested in is which system people like more (that is, which system would you prefer to see a wine scored in).

Personally, I think in terms of the 20 point scale, almost like it's my natural tongue, with the 100 point scale my second language, of sorts, and I translate as required between the two. So changing over to the 100 point scale is not to be taken lightly (even though you could argue that scores are trivial anyway). However, anyone can see that outside of the arch traditional bastions of British wine writing - Jancis Robinson, Decanter et al - 'my' scoring system is largely out of fashion, and actually may not be the best way to attempt to score a wine.

So please, tell me what you think. Should I stick to a score out of 20 and an equivalent out of 100, or would you prefer one or the other?

9 comments:

  1. Get with the strength son. You know it :)
    Anyway..the 100 point scale is just a 20 point scale but you get to use all the numbers, instead of just 10!
    GW
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  2. 100 point scale, if only because it appears to be used more widely and thus is more likely to mean something to the reader.
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  3. 100 point scale is the easiest in terms of me calibrating my palate to the scorers. And calibration is the most persuasive argument I've heard for scoring :)
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  4. Andrew,

    Join us on the dark side. . .
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  5. This may not be the answer you're looking for, but I would suggest sticking with a 20 point scale, simply because you say you're more comfortable with it. For me, the value of your scores lies in internal calibration, rather than comparison across tasters. So I'd just say go with the one that feels most natural, as this will likely yield the most consistent result.

    Otherwise, if you really want a number out of 100, just score out of 20 and multiply by 5. :)
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  6. I'd probably have a good think about what Julian says. It doesn't bother me what you use, because I've been following your site for a little while. That said, if you feel you'll get a better/bigger audience with the 100-point scale, that might be the way to go. It really depends on why you're running this site, and how it fits in with your aspirations.

    By the way, I score beer out of 20 points, because that's the most common method (actually with a star system using quarters), and wine using the 100-point system as per Wine Front, Halliday, et al.

    JO uses 20 to score and then 'tanslates' to 100 for publication.

    MichaelC
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  7. Hi there,

    I'm following this nice site not long ago, but if it counts, my vote is for the 100 point scale. Though I would note that the Parker/Wine Spectator 100 point system looks slighty different from the one (?) used in Australia (I guess the Halliday version is common), and they are not really directly comparable, or am I wrong about that?

    Zoltan, a wine lover from Hungary
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  8. It's decided then. 100 point scale it is. But I'm going to follow Jeremy Oliver's lead and include my score out of 20, just because I can.

    AG
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  9. Good. Ignore Julian. He doesn't use 20 or 100!!! The sissy. :)
    GW
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