The scale is used to indicate quality and the score itself refers to a specific quality on this scale. It gives an absolute indication, and not a relative one, so that it can be used to compare different growths, different vintages and different appellations. The tasting comment gives a description of the taste. This description supplements the information given by the score to help you decide which wine suits your personal taste best, especially when you hesitate between two wines with the same score.
Scores lower than 50/100 or 10/20
These scores indicate wines with oenological deficiencies and/or distinctly unpleasant wines.
Scores between 70 and 84/100 or 10 and 13,75/20
Scores given to insignificant wines which mainly leave you with a feeling of dissatisfaction.
Scores between 85 and 86-87/100 or 14 and 14,75/20 : Good Wines.
When a wine reaches a score of 85/87, it has risen above the anonymous, mass produced wines. For lesser growths, wines with such scores are very desirable. For a great growth, it means that the wine is not at its best, which can be due to natural causes (weak or medium vintages) and/or to human factors (a certain lack of care in the work, whether in the vineyards or in the winery).
Scores between 87 and 89/100 or 15 and 15,75/20 : Very Good Wines.
Wines in this range have a well defined character due to their nice body, pleasant taste, elegance and good balance. They suit consumers with high standards and can be kept up to 5 or 10 years after their year of birth.
Scores between 90 and 95/100 or 16 and 17,5/20 : Excellent Wines.
These scores are attributed to wines which are powerful and refined at the same time, offering complexity and a deep taste. They are certainly worth keeping at least 10 years in the bottle so as to enjoy the most voluptuous sensations they can develop. Yet, remembering that only good young wines will result in good old wines, I think you should not feel bad about trying them at an earlier age. On the contrary, if you do so, you will have the joy to discover the variety of charms these wines offer at different ages.
Scores between 96 and 100/100 or 18 and 20/20 : Exceptional Wines.
Here we find the Nec plus Ultra of all wines. They are powerful, complex, rich, subtle, and refined at the same time, with a very specific and original expressiveness (which constitutes their pedigree) and they are endowed with an immensely long ageing potential (20 to 50 years and more). These rare wines will impress several generations of wine lovers and they establish the reference points in the world heritage of wine tastes.
March 2006. A new contribution to my scoring system : Enjoyment score.
I have introduced the enjoyment score for enthusiasts who buy wine to enjoy it immediately. This enjoyment score complements the general score, which assesses the potential quality and/or enjoyment provided by a wine after being cellared. The wine is ready to be drunk when the enjoyment score and the score for potential become closer and finally are the same.
