Yak's wine rating scale
One thing before you dive into the tasting notes themselves:
I use my own 20 point scoring system which may need some explanation.
The marks reflect my overall impression of the wine. They are not
"computed" by assigning fractions to separate elements of the wine.
You should read my marks as follows:
20 - Divine
19.5 - Extraordinary
19 - Outstanding
18.5 - Superb
18 - Very fine
17.5 - Fine
17 - Very-good
16.5 - Good-plus
16 - Good
15.5 - Reasonable
15 - Fair
14 - Passable
13 - Average
12 - Mediocre
11 - Barely passing
10 - Forget it
Anything below 10/20 is really bad. Thankfully I rarely drink such wines.
As a matter of fact I rarely mark wines below 15/20, so the actual
"dynamic range" is 15-20, with half-points added to allow for subtilties...
Another item that might need an explanation is the "BUY MORE?" element that
appears on most tasting notes. It may seem strange that I sometime praise a wine and
then go on to state that I will not buy more of it. Or the other way around - I may not
give a wine an extremely high mark, but still say I'll buy more.
Unlike most my American friends, I am usually not terribly bothered by the QPR
(or "value") of a wine. This is not because I am rich and need not care about wine
price. It is because for me, life is not made up of sequence of good deals, but rather
of accumulation of good experiences.
That being said, I do not like to be taken for a sucker any more than the next guy.
Hence the "BUY MORE?" item, which reflects the unscientific outcome of the war
between my taste and my pocket...
NOTE: If you got here by a search engine I suggest you take some time exploring my site.
More than 300 pages containing hundreds of wine tastining notes, food & wine adventures, and much more. Use the navigation bar to reach my homepage and the site's other main branches. |
Reach Me? 
yak@yakshaya.com
Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.