It has been over a year since I last summarized in September 2010 the 20 Point System I use in rating wines in the Review of Washington Wines. Since then, many new subscribers have signed up. And it occured to me that I should update my explanation of how I use this system in my Review of Washington Wines to show what it means.

Initially, when I started the Review of Washington Wines in December of 2008, I was going to use the 100 point scale as it seemed to be the one most widely understood by wine consumers. But in talking with Chris Camarda of Andrew Will Winery, he convinced me to do otherwise. Chris pointed out that almost no one will buy a wine that gets 85 points, even though, using school grading, that would be a B and hence very good. As an alternative, I turned to the University of California Davis 20 Point System for evaluating wines for my Review of Washington Wines.

The Davis 20 Point System was commonly used in evaluating wines until the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator came along with the 100 point system. The Davis faculty experimented with 100 points in the 1940's, then came to the conclusion in the late 1950's that a 20 point system provided more precise results. The Davis System assigned points on a form with the following standards.

Clarity (2 points) - Brilliant, neark sparkly, clear with no haze or particulates.

Color (2 points) - Approproate color for varietal/type and age.

Bouquet (4points) Distinct varietal characteristics, balanced bouquet ("corked" is a defect here).

Total Acidity (1 point) - Proper balance, appropriate for varietal/type and age.

Sweetness (1 point) - Appropriate sweetness, well enhanced/well balanced.

Body/Texture (2 points) - Appropriate body for varietal/type and age.

Flavor/Taste (2 points) - Complex flavors, appropriate for varietal/type and age.

Acescensy (Bitterness) (1 point) - Well balanced, no perceptible bitterness.

Astringency (1 point) - Appropriate levels of tannin for the varietal/type and age.

Overall Quality (4 points) - Wines of "noble" quality with distinct and distinguishing character (It is here that there is room for subjectivity. Wines that are "charming" with some special character get 3 points. Typical or unexceptional wines get fewer points.)

The scores are totaled for a given wine to obtain the following ratings:

17 - 20 points - Wines of outstanding characteristics having no defects.

13 - 16 points - Standard wines with neither outstanding character or defect.

9 - 12 points - Wines of commercial acceptability with noticeable defects.

5 - 8 points - Wines below commercial acceptability.

1 - 5 points - Completely spoiled wines.

This system became standard usage throughout the 1960's and 1970's. This, interestingly, coincided with the breakout years of high quality California wines, with the emergence of wineries such as Heitz Cellars, Robert Mondavi, Freemark Abbey, Chappelet and others. Up until that time, most wines were "standard" or "commercial."

One interesting thing about the U.C. Davis System is that wines scoring 17 - 20 points are considered "wines of outstanding characteristics having no defects." This must mean that some wines are more outstanding than others. This is what the 17 - 20 point range means to me:

17 points - Very good, above average wines.

18 points - Exceptional, fine wines.

18.5 points - A step higher, more complex and nuanced.

19 points - Outstanding wines with much complexity.

19.5 points - Great wines that show extraordinary character.

20 points - Wines that are not only flawless, but possess superlative depth and complexity.

Occasionally (but not often) I will use a + to indicate a wine which is a notch above its point level in complexity.

The beauty of the 20 Point System is its simplicity which reduces (but does not eliminate) the influence of subjectivity in the evaluation process. Wines get rated on the basis of their overall balance and total performance. It also reduces the bias of the 100 point system toward awarding to only a small percentage of wines scores above 93 points. Most 100 point scale ratings peak out at about 92 points, so there is a range of 89 - 92 points for most Recommended/Highly Recommended wines, with 93 or more points becoming a sort of Holy Grail that wineries strive for.

A final comment is about the high number of wines receiving 18.5 or more points in my Review of Washington Wines, with a fair number of 19 points or more scores and even a few 20 points. The reason for this is that these wines are just that outstanding. Washington wines are becoming of age, and more truly exceptional wines are being produced. These, however, are just the ones at the top. There still are many more wines that are simply good or of standard quality (16 - 17 points). My goal with the Review of Washington Wines, is to bring to consumers' attention the wines that are the most exceptional ones.