Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Wine grades

Regular readers will note that I have finally given in to repeated requests and started including grades in my wine reviews. The grades are based on the standard letter grade system with which we are familiar. I went with this system because it is familiar to my US readers and, I believe, will be more useful than the 100 point system used by Parker and the Wine Spectator. For one thing, I find that the 100 point scale requires distinctions too fine to be justified; what is the big difference between a 92 and a 93 wine, after all? For another, the Spectator is especially guilty of failing to take value into account in its scoring, so that $100 and $10 wines often receive the same grade. In contrast, my scale will be based on value - perceived hedonic quality for the dollar. Finally, I believe that both Parker and the Spectator (but, again, especially the latter) have been guilty of rampant grade inflation. In contrast, I intend to be a very tough grader. The Spectator no longer even provides textual reviews of wines scoring below 85. In contrast, on my scale, a B graded wine is one I would be happy to own and even to serve to guests. Herewith then my system:

A: Highly recommended. An exceptional wine providing high hedonic value (by which I mean that it is very fairly priced given its perceived quality). An investment grade wine worthy of collecting.

B: Recommended. A very good wine, which I would be proud to own and even serve to guests in my own home. Provides good hedonic value.

C: No recommendation one way or the other. Drinkable, but not a wine I would buy again. An average quality wine or a better wine at an unfairly high price, such that the hedonic value is modest at best.

D: Not recommended. Poor quality wine.

E: Undrinkable. Avoid. Very rarely given.