identity of each wine hidden until after we have scored it. Each member will
then assign the wines a score from 1 to 100 based solely on their tasting
preference. No rocket-science here, they are just determining whether or not
they liked the way the wine tasted. Once the results are final, I then take up
all of the scoring sheets and add each wine’s scores up and divide the score
total by the number of tasters to get the average score. This number is
frequently a whole number with two decimal places to the right. (Ex. 83.75)
This is how some wines may rate very highly with most people and still
receives a lower score based on a few tasters’ opinions. That’s the beauty of it
though, because tasting wine is purely objective!
Once the average score for each wine has been calculated, the numeric score
is then translated into a letter grade of A, B, C, D & F. The traditional grades
that most people in the States are accustomed to. Here’s how the scores
translate:
A+ = 97 to 100
A = 94 to 96
A- = 90 to 93
B+ = 87 to 89
B = 84 to 86
B- = 80 to 83
C+ = 77 to 79
C = 74 to 76
C- = 70 to 73
D or F = 69 or below
In our Tempranillo tasting, our top wine, El Vinculo received an average score
of 89.36 and barely missed receiving our only “A” score of the tasting. One
taster scored it an “81” and thus pulled it back down into the “B+” range. See
how this works?
To the best of my knowledge, we have never had a wine rate higher than “A-“.
Perhaps we are picky or maybe just buying the wrong wines!
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