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Often, when one is contemplating which drink to partner with their meticulously prepared food, wine is the initial beverage that surfaces. Nevertheless, while the taste of the meal presents a good initial guide for this choice, selecting wine can be challenging particularly if you do not favor a particular type.

Indeed, you should certainly taste wines for yourself before making a judgement, but there is a helpful shortcut available, thanks to Robert Parker, a wine critic from the 1970s. He introduced a 100-point grading system for wines that has now become the norm in the industry. However, before you head off to the wine shop you should be aware that Parker’s system won’t help you find the world’s most ideal wine. It mainly identifies the unique qualities of a wine’s taste and compares a bottle to the ideal version of that year’s wine.

If you are a budding winemaker worried about the idea of your wine being subjected to a 100-point test, you can find solace in the fact that wines never score less than 50. Additionally, a large majority of wines achieve high 80s (‘barely above average to very good’), which means the mean score for a wine ranges from around 87 to 89 (90-95 is deemed ‘outstanding’ and any score above this is ‘extraordinary’).

Understanding how reviewers critique wine using this system can be challenging, but it can be comprehended better if you visualize your wine as a show dog. In dog shows, the dogs that win the most prizes are those that meet a strict set of breed standards. Similarly, for wines, the highest scores are given to wines that resemble the best possible expression of a certain type of grape. Factors such as climate can influence a wine’s score. For instance, the weather conditions in 2018 were favorable for grape cultivation, resulting in multiple Californian wines of that year receiving high scores.

The existing status of the 100-point wine scoring system vastly differs from Robert Parker’s original concept. When he began assigning numbers to wines, he revitalized the art of wine critique. Most reviews were vague, focusing on the wine’s intangible qualities, while Parker pinpointed the specific fruits characterizing a wine’s flavor.

The 100-point scoring system, devised by Parker, has deviated from its original form over time. Currently, less than ever score below 80. However, Parker’s original concept designated wines of average quality in the 70s, with any wine scoring above 90 considered exceptional. Though this rating system offers a convenient way to identify excellent wines, it’s essential to be cognizant of the score inflation over time, and to familiarize oneself with a wine’s flavor rather than relying solely on the number. It’s important to recognize that not all wine connoisseurs endorse Parker’s system. In the 2013 film “Escaping Robert Parker,” wine producers both for and against the scoring system analyze its worth in the modern era of wine critique.

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