How We Rate Wine  

Wine experts often use the following 100-point system to evaluate four major characteristics or qualities of wine. In assessing each aspect, you employ different senses.

Our Rating Scale  

96-100           Extraordinary
90-95             Outstanding
85-89             Very Good
70-79             Average
0-69               Avoid

Aroma  

How does the wine look?.
Total points: 20

Nose or Bouquet   

How does the wine smell? This factor is probably most crucial for "memorizing" the wine.
Total points: 20

Palate  

How does the wine taste and feel in your mouth? This category is obviously the most important as you decide whether or not you enjoy this wine.
Total points: 50

Exceptional Qualities  

This is a catchall phrase for any unusual merits worth above and beyond Appearance, Nose and Palate. Here's where many tasters record their basic conclusions about the wine, or what they found most memorable. If a wine is an exceptionally good value, its numerical score shouldn't be affected -- but this is the place to make a note for future reference.
Total points: 10

Remember that the judging of wine is, first and foremost, a subjective experience. However, using a numerical system -- in which the same four characteristic are always assessed in the same order -- gives you a consistent and meaningful base of reference as you build up a "memory bank" of wines. Thus your knowledge of wines is greatly expanded, while your appreciation and enjoyment are enhanced.

Here's what to look for in each of the qualities outlined above:
 

 Appearance  

Clarity for Reds: Bright (or clear); lacks brightness; hazy; cloudy; heavy with sediment.

Clarity for Whites: Brilliant; star-bright; then on down to dull, then finally cloudy. Depth for both types of wine goes from very light to opaque or deep.

Color or hue for Reds: Purple; garnet; red; tile (or brick) red; brown-tinged, red-brown; mahogany. Note also the "legs" of wine -- that is, the beads that run down the inside of the glass when swirled. These are caused by the extract of glycerin and give you an indication of the body of the wine.

 Nose  

Aroma: Either there is a distinctive scent or there is not -- hence wine gets one point on aroma, or none. Note the varietal character of the grape used. Is it fruity? (Plums, cherries, berries?) Also note if there is any wood aroma from the aging barrels: its scent will remind you of oak or vanilla. In describing aroma, use any analogy that fits. Examples are violets, underbrush, mushrooms, green olives, beet-root (in a pinot noir), black currants or blackberries (in a cabernet sauvignon), earthy, pungent cabbage (in a chardonnay).

 Bouquet   

Check for these components . . . Condition: clean or unclean? (sulphurous? oxidization? mustiness?) Development: immature or well-developed (ripe); closed ("dumb") or open and forthcoming; penetrating. Quality: poor (limited); ordinary; good; fine or very pleasant; great (full, rich); magnificent (very full, complex, and highly pleasing.) Additional descriptive terms: aromatic, perfumed, flowery, fresh, grassy herbaceous, wet, moldy.

 Palate  

Body: The feel of the wine on your tongue and in your mouth. Does it have weight or does it feel thin and watery? Does it seem extra smooth or silky, even velvety? Is it so thick that if feels almost chewy? Is there any effervescence, or spritz?

Flavor: Look for the four components of flavor: fruit, tasted up in the front of the tongue as sweetness; acidity, detected along the upper edges of the tongue, gives wine life and zip; tannin, detected in a small triangular area at back of the mouth or top of the throat, can seem overly bitter -- even mouth-puckering -- in a young red wine, but it mellows out with age; alcohol can sometimes feel "hot", but should not be pronounced. If the wine seems lacking in flavor, say so in your notes. For white wines, describe the level of sweetness from bone-dry to dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet and sweet. Describe the flavor in any way that's meaningful to you. Use analogies. Descriptive terms might include green apples, plums, jammy, nutty, pineapples, spice-y (cinnamon, cardamom, curry, pepper, etc.), tart, bitter, piquant, zesty or tangy, baked or hot, meaty or fleshy, complex, metallic, flinty, smoky, creamy or buttery.

Balance: If any flavor component overpowers the others, the overall balance of the wine is off and it loses points -- for instance, if it's too fruity or heavy with no acid and tannin to give it backbone. If so, the wine is "flabby" and should lose points. If there is so much tannin the fruit or flavor is lost, the result is an undesirable mouth-puckering astringency that should also cost points.

Finish: The sensation as one swallows should be long and lingering with a pleasant aftertaste that hangs at the back of the mouth after swallowing. Note whether the aftertaste is an "echo" of flavors perceived earlier, or whether it has nuances of its own.

 Exceptional Characteristics 

List here anything that adds to your enjoyment and appreciation of the wine, or that serves to make it memorable. Be poetic! Some terms used to sum up wines include luscious, sensuous, focused, manly or masculine (a big wine, aggressive, positive), feminine (a wine that is attractive, not heavy or severe, having a certain charm -- to some, the wines of Germany's Mosel River are "feminine"). Also note whether the wine has breeding, in other words, is it a noble and distinguished wine? Also look for finesse, that is, delicacy and grace, a certain balance shown in the making. Also important is the potential of the wine, that is, does it exhibit an ability to age further in the bottle and improve for many years to come? Note, too, whether the wine would marry well with various foods. In other words, is it a compatible wine?