A few days ago, I received and email from Todd and Carrie Alexander with scores for their Holocene Wines 2021 Memorialis and 2021 Apocrypha Oregon Pinot Noirs from Paul Gregutt in the Northwest Wine Guide and my Review of Washington Wines (erroneously called Report of Washington Wines). Both wines scored 95/100 points by Paul Gregutt and 19.5/20 points by myself. These are very high scores, indicating wines of really high quality. Of the Memorialis, Paul writes, "Wow - a lot going on here." I wrote, "This is a striking Pinot Noir..." Of the Apocrypha, Paul wrote"...firmly rooted in black and blue fruits, supple yet forceful..." I wrote "This is an exquisite yet beautifully structured Pinot..." My review were detailed (in the March issue of the Review of Washington Wines) and Paul's shorter (looking like the reviews he used to write for The Wine Enthusiast). 

One interesting thing about these reviews is how they are different when using the 100 point and University of California Davis 20 point systems. Below is an article I wrote in 2017 about the 20 point system and what it means. Another interesting thing is that Paul's reviews are available on paulgwine.com without scores and on Paul Gregutt's Northwest Wine Guide (on paulgregutt.substack.com) with scores. When Paul started his own review publication, he reviewed without scores. But with subscriber demand, he made the reviews available with scores. I have always reviewed with scores using the UC Davis 20 point system which antedates the 100 point system. See below.

The University of California, Davis 20 point wine scoring system was developed by the Enology faculty in the 1940's and '50's in order to arrive at a consistent system for qualitatively evaluating wines. The system was standard until the advent of the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator 100 point systems. The Davis System comprises of the following points assigned to wines:

Clarity - 2 points

Color - 2 points

Bouquet - 4 points

Total Acidity - 1 point

Sweetness - 1 point

Body/Texture - 2 points

Flavor/Taste - 2 points

Acescency (Bitterness) - 1 point

Astringency - 1 point

Overall Quality - 4 points

Half points may be assigned.

The two most important attributes are Bouquet (4 points) and Overall Quality (4 points). All other points indicate appearance and balance. 

Bouquet definitions:

Distinct varietal characteristics, balanced bouquet - 4 points

Simply fruity characteristics, some bouquet - 3 points

Underdeveloped nose, closed, non-apparent - 1 point

Defective nose, off odors - 0 points

Overall Quality definitions:

Wines of "noble" quality with distinct and distinguishing character - 4 points

Wines that are "charming" with some special character - 3 points

Wines that are typical of the varietal / type and age - 2 points

Wines with no exceptional characteristics but not flawed - 1 point

Wines with no exceptional characteristics and possess flaws - 0 points

Both the two above Holocene Pinot Noir score 4 points for bouquet ("Distinct varietal characteristics, balanced bouquet") and 3.5 points for overall quality (near "noble" quality). Combined with the other assigned points they each add up to 19.5/20 points. This is a different scoring than a 100 point one. As I have stated before, do not multiply the 20 point score by 5 to get an equivalent score. These are not equivalent systems.