Thu August 7th 2008

Home > Vintage Charts > Pros and Cons

The Pros and Cons of Using Vintage Charts

The numerical rating of wines is a controversial topic on both sides of the Atlantic. Scores of prominent critics have a lot of influence on the wine buying public. This is most striking in America, where a fondness for statistics has meant that some critics can single-handedly affect a specific wine's fortunes. The result is a distortion of the wine market, as it should cater to the wine drinkers and not to a few select self-proclaimed 'experts.'

"...vintage charts can be very useful as long as they are used as a guide and not considered a cast-iron guarantee of quality!"

The story starts in 1855, when an attempt was made to rate the most highly regarded wines of the time, those of Bordeaux. The ratings were based on the reputation of each wine and reflected their value at auction.

The wine industry today is a rapidly changing one with an incredible range of countries and wineries to choose from. No one can buy and sample every wine on the shelf, leaving vintage charts to fulfill the requirement for a clear guide to the vintages. Obviously, rating wines is difficult as people's palates differ, while just describing the many qualities of a vintage by a number is a very tricky task. To further complicate the problem, considerable variety exists among the wines that make up a vintage.

This means that vintage charts can be very useful as long as they are used as a guide and not considered a cast-iron guarantee of quality! The other advantage of wine vintage charts is that they cover a certain discrete area. Therefore, relevant issues include the conditions before the harvest, how advantageous the grape-growing season turned out to be and other important objective points. This is preferable to a wine taster's personal opinion on a single wine.

Our vintage charts have all been meticulously researched in order to avoid as many of the problems some associate with wine scoring.

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