FINE WINE EVALUATION AND POINT SYSTEM 

For many readers, wine appraisals make up the most valuable content of wine magazines. Optimally, appraisals assist you in making better purchase decisions and provide expert information on how and when to best enjoy the wines. Despite this, it seems that the wine media fail to take appraisals seriously enough. In doing so, they let you down.  

Having followed wine magazines for decades, I must say that the critiques presented in various publications by the world’s most highly regarded wine critics are usually very similar in format: descriptions that mainly – or sometimes entirely – rely on the aromas experienced by the experts. Comparisons of these texts make evident their subjectivity, as two descriptions of the same wine can sometimes differ hugely. The reader can easily get the feeling of simply peeking in the diary of the wine critic, whose notes are not really useful to anyone but themselves. Where can one find out whether the wine is worth its price, how the wine should be served, and what it should be served with for optimal enjoyment?

It is time to look in the mirror and make a change. Here at FINE, we spend a lot of time and money seeking out wines around the world. We uncork more fine and rare wines than any other wine medium in the world in order to share up-to-date, relevant information with you. Our main objective from day one has been to encourage our readers themselves to open and enjoy unique wines. We have tried to make this often daunting undertaking as easy as possible by providing our views on how and when the wines are best enjoyed. However, even we have not adopted a comprehensive enough view.

A change is needed and it is happening now.

From 2011 onwards our wine appraisals will be different. We will focus on the essentials: the things that matter to you. Our appraisals are now more informative, satisfy the needs of different readers and are presented in a more immediately intelligible format.

By doing this, we hope to create a better and more rounded wine experience, allowing you to be more informed when it comes to drinking wines, collecting them, investing in them or pairing them with food. 

 

We give points to the wines based on their current enjoyment possibility

How to read FINE tastings

We open and taste more fine and rare wines than any other wine media in the world. In respect of these special wines we consider that they deserve to be presented in the best possible way to serve well our readers. This is why our tasting notes include lot more information than just description of wine.

The topics we cover in tasting note beside colour, nose, taste and finish notes are:

Average auction price

The given price is a six-months average price paid in auctions run by major auction houses in Europe, USA and Asia (FINE Wine Index)

 In a word

Overall short description of the wine

 Buy or not

Tells if the wine is worth of its price based on its rarity and our tasting experience

 Tasted

How many times we have tasted the wine and when the wine was tasted the most recently

 Decanting time

Recommend how much before serving the wine should be decanted

 Glass time

How long the wine lasts after being poured into glass

 

 Food Pairing

The perfect dish to accompany each wine

 

 When to drink

The year we believe each wine will reach its optimum drinkability

 Fake factor

The risk rate of encountering the counterfeit bottles. This is an estimate based on FINE Editorial team’s experience.

 Inside information

Shares specific information about the wine or vintage that adds value to the tasting experience

 Or try this   

Instead of this wine where can you put your money into

 Final verdict

Wraps up our opinion about the wine

 

The scoring system

The most significant factor in our wine evaluation compared to any other publication is scoring system. We score wines according the pleasure they deliver today, not according to their potential. Our purpose is to make sure you enjoy the wines when they are at their optimum to ensure the wines not only deliver the greatest pleasure but also their value.

As one of FINE’s fundamental values is to support excellence, we have made the decision to not publish wines that receive below 80 points in our evaluations. 

We also appreciate wines that represent excellent value in their price to quality ratio and we present these for our readers’ benefit.

 

We use a 100-point evaluation system, where the wines have been divided into the following categories:

99–100p
A wine with the wow-effect. Sheer perfection
to all senses by every parameter of wine quality. A true gift from nature.

95–98p
An outstanding wine that leaves an unforgettable tasting experience with its perfect structure, complexity and personality.

90–94p
An excellent wine, that stands out by balance, intensity, complexity and character.

86–89p
A good wine with balance and complexity.

80–85p
An average, though well-made wine. Nose
and palate are somewhat one-dimensional
and impersonal.

50–79p
A modest and straightforward wine lacking life and harmony. This wine is excluded from appearing in FINE.

 

 

FIRST TIME IN THE WORLD: YOU CAN PUBLISH YOUR OWN WINE POINTS AND NOTES IN OUR MAGAZINES: