To score or not to score...

Recently, with wine prices exploding across many wine regions and producers, I have been thinking that the wine critics who set out to advocate for consumers may actually have spawned a side effect they may not have intended.

The 100 point scoring systems used by virtually all major wine reviewers these days have made it possible to collect great wines in large quantities without the knowledge that used to be required to base buying decisions on. This may be putting upward pressure on pricing in ways that we are just now beginning to understand.

2005 Bordeaux was hardly the beginning of this trend, but it was maybe its most obvious manifestation. 2005 Burgundy is now picking up where 2005 Bordeaux left off. Major buyers are seemingly buying based mostly on points allocated to wines and are turning wine collecting into a trophy hunt. Great vintages are now very expensive even at the mid-Tier level (think Deuxieme Grand Cru Classes in Bordeaux and 1er Crus in Burgundy) and the off vintages no longer provide the discounts they once did.

In the face of this situation, I have decided to join other wine enthusiasts in no longer scoring my wines. I believe that buying decisions should be based on whether or not one likes a tasting note. So my tasting notes will be as detailed as ever, but you'll have to pay attention to my notes rather than my score to deduce whether I liked the wine and how much. I actually think it'll be a liberating experience.