Understanding the numbers – part two – the 20 point system and others

Last week the pitfalls of the 100 point system were exposed, this week we will look at the 20 point system and others based on them.

The 20 point system has some theoretically valid methodology to back itself up. It is used in the wine show judging system and other well known wine writers like Jeremy Oliver use it to rate wines in their publications.

Here is how it works. Wines are given up to:-

3 points for colour and condition

7 points for bouquet

10 points for taste and structure on the palate

In wine shows a Bronze Medal is awarded for 15.5 to 16.5 points. A Silver Medal is awarded between 17.0 and 18 points, a Gold is achieved for 18.5 and above.

Sound simple and straight forward? On the surface yes it does but nothing to do with points and wine is ever simple. If you see a wine has been given “X” many points the reader has to understand in what context the points have been awarded.

In wine shows, there are many categories or classes and wines are judged in “peer groups.” For example, a wine may receive a 18.5 points in one class and 15.5 in another class. Winestate Magazine uses the 20 point show judging system and then converts the points to a star rating rather than quoting points, but the 20 point system is the foundation stone of their star system. In Winestate’s case, wines are judged in price categories and it’s very important to know this because a five star wine (high Gold Medal standard) in a $10-$15 category may not be anywhere near as good a wine as a three star wine in the $50-$60 category.

So, if you are using the 20 point system (or stars based on the 20 point system) the reader has to know in what context the wine was awarded the score. In some cases it may be in peer groups but in some cases it may be in an open class which further confuses matters.

If scoring wine was such an accurate science then one could reasonably be expected to think that at major wine shows like Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane where you have the most professional judges available, the same wine would get similar scores. Frequently a particular vintage wine will be entered in scores of shows over many years. In some shows the wine will win a Gold, in some a Bronze and in some no gong at all. Over the “show life” of a few years the spread in point may be from 14.5 to 18.5 - a huge range. It happens frequently.

So what do points of any description mean? Here is what the very well respected Oxford Companion To Wine states under the heading of ‘Numbers and wine - A statistician’s view’

“When tasting wine, the nuances of colour, aroma, flavour, and taste, the interplay of alcohol, aldehydes, esters, and acids, the location, temperature, even one’s companions, have such complicated effects that, whilst provide much of the enjoyment of wine, they make the idea of describing wine numerically seem over-simplified at best, ridiculous at worst.”

In summary, points no matter what the system provide very little meaningful information. Tasting notes will tell you far more. Just because a wine is quoted as having 92 points its just one persons abbreviated opinion on a given day and is no indication you will like the wine. The same applies to a wine that has a Gold Medal on it, all that means is that “some judges” rated it as 18.5 points or higher (once) but in what context and its just as possible that despite the medal you may hate the style of wine in the bottle. That’s why the tasting notes are so important. They have a much better chance of telling you what you need to know.

Cheers

Ric