The Phenomenon of Ratings Inflation

WINE TALK
21

Very far point, thank you for highlighing

22

I like that!

23

I think my focus was largely on Bordeaux En Primeur, which is the most important period of the wine industry calendar. Clearly the pressure to be competitive is less when you are rating less commoditised products.

24

Fair comment I think about Robinson and Johnson, if by education you include the general public , and knowledge of wines beyond Bordeaux and Burgundy, as opposed to MW courses and the like. And don’t forget Harry Waugh.

2 Likes
25

One day mankind will break the 100 pt barrier

Oct. 14, 1947 - This Week: The Sound Barrier - CHUCKYEAGER.ORG

1 Like
26

A critic without access is a critic out of business.

No one (except Burgundy) could ever say “no” to Parker. But he is long gone and now, much like cable and streaming, the wine review industry is so fractured, no one has the ability to force participation by the wineries. When WS did not review the First Growths last year because the estates refused to send samples for blind tastings, that was the big shot across the bow.

Any critic that gives the 2021 Margaux 93pts (my score) will never visit the estate again. Which critic wants to increase their perceived legitimacy for loss of access? “Super… I just got 100 more signups because I scored Bordeaux 2021s 5-10 points below 2020… now I lost all my access to these estates and everyone is un-subbing from my report because I can’t review the top wines anymore.” Thus, scoring inflation.

Mark Herold got 92 points by Parker for his 1998 Merus in a tough vintage, then 94pts in 1999, an average vintage. Within a year the prices of Merus were 3x in the aftermarket, he was written up on the front page of the WSJ, and he had 4 consulting clients. Get 92-94 now and you are fired.

9 Likes
27

FWIW, LPB gave 2021 Mouton a 92 (91-93), and both she & NM gave 2021 Latour a 93 (92-94).

3 Likes
28

I think negative wine reviews are extremely valuable. Is a property resting on its laurels? Is a well-distributed wine really just an innocuous, commercial beverage without character? Was a particularly vintage very inconsistent in a particular region (e.g., 2018 in Burgundy)?

It’s no different than movie reviews – avoiding the bad things is as important as pursuing the good things. We all have limited time and money, so help me avoid wasting either, I say!

4 Likes
29

[quote=“Roy_Piper, post:26, topic:323870, full:true”]. When WS did not review the First Growths last year because the estates refused to send samples for blind tastings, that was the big shot across the bow.

Any critic that gives the 2021 Margaux 93pts (my score) will never visit the estate again.
[/quote]

Everything you said is wrong. The First Growths never sent samples for reviews outside of Covid. You always have to go there. What WS wrote was BS.

You do not lose access for low scores. You might lose access for the way you put it. All the estates want is a fair tasting and comment.

True story…

I was at lunch with one of the top estates in BDX. During the lunch they looked me in the eye saying I scored their wine below most of the top critics. Thats when the limp on my throat and the sweat on my forehead appeared. Their next comment was, that’s OK, they knew I would not score it high. They added that when I like the wine, I score it higher than most.

Tastings and ratings are all part of the game.

All of that being said, score inflation from newer, younger critics, reviewers etc, is out of control. Moral of the story, trust the older, experienced tasters, as a rule, they are usually less generous.

7 Likes
30

Jancis Robinson seems to maintain good access with consistently conservative scores.

1 Like
31

Sorry, I have no issue with negative reviews.

But in the current situation there really are more wineries and wines than can be covered, especially by a single reviewer. From a behind the scenes viewpoint, that is the sticky wicket in review (perhaps less so for Bordeaux).

Would you prefer a negative review to update a property that’s drifting or a positive review of someone who is doing excellent work? Positing that publishing absolutely everything becomes an avalanche of information and is it’s own issue.

32

My impressions -

  1. Wines, broadly, are getting better so scores, broadly, should be going up.

  2. Anecdotes from various specific producers and reviewers will support both the contention that producers will cut off access for reviewers who give them low scores and the contention that they won’t.

  3. Reviewers who use the 100-point scale, broadly (that is, there may be exceptions) have effectively changed the scale over time to compress it, such that today’s 90 was more like an 85 in the past and the 85-89 range for good but not great wines has moved to the 90-92 range, and so on up the ladder.

2 Likes
33

A snapshot from Bdx 23

Phonetic Bordeaux 2023 Tranche 13 Commune and Classification PACK SIZE Neal Martin (Vinous) Jancis Robinson ( Julia Harding MW) James Suckling Jane Anson The Wine Advocate (William Kelly) Lisa Perrotti-Brown
ALTEGO236 Alter Ego de Palmer (6x750) Margaux 6 92-94 95-96 93 92-94 90-92
ANGELU233 Angelus (3x750) St-Émilion 3 94-96 97-98 96 95-96
AUSONE231 Ausone (1x750) St-Émilion, Grand Cru Classé 1 96-98 98-99 97 95-97 98-100
BARHAU23 Barde-Haut St-Émilion, Grand Cru Classé 12 91-93 97-98 95 92-94
BASLAM236 Bastor Lamontagne Sauternes 6 93-94
BASLAM2337 Bastor Lamontagne (12x375) Sauternes 12 93-94
BEABEC236 Beau Sejour Bescot (6x750) St-Émilion, Grand Cru Classé 6 92-94 16.5 96-97 95 96-98 95-97
BEAUMO23 Beaumont Haut - Médoc, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur 12 88-90 15.5 89-90 87-89 85-87
BEAURE236 Beauregard (6x750) Pomerol 6 16.5 94-95 93
BEADUF236 Beauséjour (6x750) St-Émilion, 1er Cru Grand Classé B 6 94-96 95-96 98 96-98 96-98
BELAIR236 Bélair-Monange (6x750) St-Émilion, 1er Cru Grand Classé 6 92-94 97-98 94-96
BELGRA23 Belgrave Haut - Médoc, 5ème Cru 12 90-92 16 94-95 91
BELBEL236 Bellefont-Belcier (6x750) St-Émilion, Grand Cru Classé 6 89-91 96-97 94 93-95 90-92
BELLEP236 Bellegrave Pauillac 6 92-93
BELLEG236 Bellegrave Pomerol 6 90-92 93-94 89-91
BELLEV236 Bellevue (6x750) St-Émilion, Grand Cru Classé 6 92-93
BEYCHE236 Beychevelle (6x750) St-Julien, 4ème Cru 6 92-94 16.5 94-95 94 93-94 90-92
BOURGN236 Bourgneuf (6x750) Pomerol 6
BOYCAN236 Boyd Cantenac (6x750) Margaux, 3ème Cru 6
BRADUC236 Branaire Ducru (6x750) St-Julien, 4ème Cru 6 92-94 16.5 95-96 94 93-94 92-94
2 Likes
34

You left out the KC column!

1 Like
35

I think the 20 point scale doesn’t hit home with consumers in quite the same way, and also, you can’t ban Jancis Robinson.

36

I might have shot myself in the foot looking at the spreadsheet above - no scores for Ausone and Angelus from JR.

37

Good sleuthing, Kent!

1 Like
38

This is something that has been fairly obvious to those who followed ratings before Parker hung it up.

If everything is 95+ points nothing is truly special.

I won’t name names but there is that one critic who seems to give everything a ridiculously high score. Ok, maybe more than one of them.

It’s a shame really as there is no one critic I trust. Vinous at one time was conservative in their ratings but I don’t even know what critic to trust these days. I guess I’ll just have to trust myself.

1 Like
39

Yeah but you get one chance for that and then you aren’t invited back. And other properties take notice and probably aren’t too eager to host you either. It’s a career death sentence. Sometimes what isn’t said says more than what is. Have you noticed the top properties that WK doesn’t visit any longer? Makes a statement without making a statement.

1 Like
40

Yes, once your name is established, any ban would more likely have the winery looking embarrassing for having done so.

However, for those seeking to move on up in the wine writing world, such a ban would be easy to do without more than a murmur, and indeed an up and coming critic complaining about such a ban, might also come across as embarrassing.

1 Like