Wine Scoring Policy


"A one-point difference can mean hundreds of cases and thousands of dollars in sales." Andrew MulliganPortfolio manager, Skurnik Wines

The Cuvée Corner wine scoring system currently in place, and outlined below, is one loosely based on the Robert Parker scoring system. No need to reinvent the wheel here. Every wine begins with 50 points, similar for example to signing one's name to the SAT exam. Every wine presented for the review process is given the base score, meaning everything is equal until the evaluation process begins.

The system our writers use is designed to help readers quickly (in some cases) get a handle on our impression(s) of the wine(s) in the review process. Most consumers understand scores are a marketing scheme on one end of the spectrum and a tool which is useful for wine evaluation on the other end. Is any of the current wine scoring systems in use today perfect, entirely fair, or blindly objective? Probably not, but that does not mean, it's not a powerful tool for quickly assessing wine(s) quality. You can't blame the mechanism for how it's used.

95-100 Epic and Better than Outstanding: Collectible territory.

90-94 Substantial: Terroir-driven and soulful.

85-89 Superlative: Quick turn qualities; drink Now and Drink often.

80-84 Decent: Drinks like a Tetra Pak or Wines in a Can.

75-79 Uninspired: Well hidden flaws: Cookie Cutter Wines.

50-74 Plonk: Why was this wine/spirits/beer bottled?

All finished wines (ready to be sold) reviewed whether a sample or a purchased wine for personal use, are given the same numerical score. In rare instances, blind tastings happen in which case it is notated in the review.

If the reviewer in question uses the above wine point scoring system, they may also use quality to price ratio (QPR) adding or subtracting five (5) points from a sample; this is a factor few if any wine reviewing sites use to score wine samples.

A range of scores, for example, 85-89 is given to unfinished wines tasted from the barrel. If an incomplete barrel sample is tasted, a notation is made in the review. We do not perform barrel tastings blind unless that is part of the program during a 'visit' or is part of a group event.

We believe our tasting method is more reflective of the actual consumer experience. It also a good barometer of the quality of wine available on a given day, understanding there are subtle differences in finished wines, which gives our readers a better grasp of what is available. Also note, not every contributor will use the point scale outlined above in their articles, so in those cases, no scores will be posted in the article.

We understand that every consumer's buying preferences are different and encourage each of our readers to make buying decisions based on those preferences. We also hope that by us (my contributors and I) tasting more wines than at times is seemingly possible for the average wine enthusiasts, that our point scale is helpful in determining any future wine buying decision(s).

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