This brief article was originally published as part of our 2022 Bordeaux report, but I thought it worth sharing on its own as well. It addresses common misconceptions about score inflation and explains why today’s exceptional wines genuinely deserve their ratings.
The Truth About High Scores: Great Wines Deserve Great Ratings
It’s common today for both consumers and other publications to accuse critics of score inflation for promotional purposes. Yet given the pushback on high scores from subscribers, this claim is questionable at best. Unlike some publications that depend on industry events and producer relationships, we are solely subscriber-funded, with no incentive to inflate scores. My only obligation is to the reader. In reality, it would be far easier to cherry-pick favorites, position ourselves as a hyper-critical publication, or downplay the sheer number of great wines being produced today.
But the job of a critic isn’t to manufacture narratives; it’s to be independent, fair, and honest. The high scores in the 2022 Bordeaux report, as in all my reports, reflect my true belief in the quality of the wines. 2022 is simply a remarkable vintage, and it deserves to be scored as such.
The landscape of fine wine has changed dramatically in the past few decades. Investments in precision viticulture, low-intervention winemaking, and meticulous selection have led to more estates producing world-class wines than ever before, and you could argue that nowhere have these changes and investments been greater than in Bordeaux. Today’s wines are cleaner, more balanced, and have purer fruit and finer tannins. Given this undeniable progress, it should come as no surprise that more wines achieve higher scores.
I also believe in using the full 100-point scale, where a 100-point rating signifies a perfect wine – one that represents the pinnacle of what wine can be. While some equate a perfect wine with an unforgettable experience, moments shaped by the setting, company, label, or occasion, my job as a critic is to evaluate the wine itself: its intrinsic quality and potential. When you strip away these external influences and focus solely on what’s in the glass, it becomes clear that the idea of a small, mythical set of top wines is an illusion. I’ve been fortunate to taste many of the world’s true greats and reference-point wines, and while many absolutely live up to their reputation, the reality is that if those wines were tasted blind alongside today’s best, they wouldn’t always come out on top. This isn’t to downplay the greats but rather to highlight that the gap between the so-called legends and the finest wines of today is smaller than many might think. More wines than ever before genuinely merit top ratings, and an honest critic must recognize that.
At the same time, having attended enough blind tastings and done this job for close to two decades, I know firsthand that the 100-point scale can create the illusion of precision that isn’t entirely realistic or consistently reproducible. A score is simply my evaluation of a wine at a given moment in time. In regions like Bordeaux, where it’s possible to taste the same wine multiple times, scores often fall within a 1- to 3-point range. Ratings can vary slightly based on context, bottle evolution, or even the taster’s perception on that day, and I’m fine with that – it’s simply the reality of both wine and the job itself. Humans are not computers.
Lastly, a score is a useful reference, but the tasting note provides the full picture. Style, balance, and drinkability matter just as much as the number. At the end of the day, wine is meant to be enjoyed, not just collected based on scores. But when a wine is truly great, it deserves to be recognized as such. That’s what my scoring reflects – not inflation, not hype, but a fair and honest evaluation of the best wines being made today. I hope I’ve made my case. My goal isn’t just to assign numbers – it’s to help you discover wines that bring real enjoyment.