Sure, we can debate whether or not a wine critic can give a 100-point, perfect, score for a wine. Profile-boost or genuine assessment, take your pick. But perhaps we should look at a far greater problem: perfect scorers.
Because there are no more accidents, no more outrageous personality statements, no more pannings of top names. By and large, blind wine tasting has been completely dropped from the repertoire of the wine critic. Very few publications do so – and I’m not counting the ones that taste wines blind and then reassess their score once the wine has been revealed.
If nothing else, the latter approach epitomizes the state of wine rating today: a sprinkle of personal opinion, but always tempered by the acknowledgement of greatness. There are no accidental 88-pointers, just as the game between 95 and 100 points is now an indication of the wine taster's personality. Jimmy gave Latour 96 points but Jemima was having none of their new oak regime with that outrageous 95-point score in her latest review.
In other words, all wine rating is now perfection: 100 points all-round. Read a good, detailed book on a wine region? Job done. Score accordingly.
The sad thing here is that this is now well-established. It is now impossible (if it ever was) to imagine a major critic of any stripe turning up in Burgundy to conclude that Pinot Noir is insipid Ribena, or the more imaginable (but equally unlikely) scenario that the latest release of Lafite really wasn't that good. This overlaps a little with my previous examination of reputation and wine estates, but I think that having no "mistakes" when it comes to a wine taster's ratings is a real problem.
Firstly, there is very little room for personality any more. There are fewer and fewer disagreements. There are no debates or discussions – unless you include a sly look over the shoulder to say "well, I was 97 points on that – no way it was 95". No more Robert Parker vs. Jancis Robinson slug-fests, no more throwing shade at top wine publications for giving a hitherto underperforming Fifth Growth a top score. All great wines are great with only fractional wobbles as to how great they are.
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