This internationally most frequently used system became popular through the wine critic Robert M. Parker (*1947) from the beginning of the 1980s. It is especially common overseas and has become internationally accepted. The acceptance in the USA is also due to the fact that it corresponds to the grading system of high schools. Every wine gets 50 points from the start. A wine up to 75 points has a more or less pronounced wine defect. In the case of certain defects, this is tolerated to a lesser extent in simpler wines, but not without exception in quality wines. Only above this limit do the good qualities begin. The rarely awarded 100 points are reserved for a very few "grandiose" wines, which are also called century wines. If one considers wines as capital investments, for which there is a collector's scene, then one concentrates on top wines with at least 90 points.
The range from "faulty" to "grandiose" is applied somewhat differently. There are also different views on how strictly this system should be interpreted. For example, for several years now, there has been a creeping upward shift in the point grades among most users of this scheme, resulting in an unnatural compression of the system (this could also be called favour rating). At wein.plus is evaluated according to the internationally customary 100-point system; the abbreviation "WP" means "wein.plus-points". The original, strict version is used, in which the range of recommendable wines already starts at 80 points. This may make the system seem "stricter", but in fact it allows for a much more differentiated assessment.
Other scoring systems are the 20-point and the 5-point system. The former is used for awarding the State Assay Number (Austria) and the latter for awarding the Official Assay Number (Germany). In addition, symbols (bottles, glasses, grapes, stars) are also used for evaluation, mostly in the number 1 to 5. In wine competitions, awards are often made in the form of medals (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), which are also based on point ratings. An example is the award by the DLG (German Agricultural Society). Good ratings usually have an immediate effect on prices, which was especially true for wines rated by Robert Parker. For this reason, point ratings are not entirely uncontroversial. The most common systems:
Whether there can really be an objective evaluation of wines by tasting is often controversially discussed. Especially (but not only) by laymen this is often questioned. An illustrative example of this problem is the legendary Paris Wine Tasting competition, which took place with the same wines in four stages over a period of thirty years. The evaluation criteria on which the points are awarded are described under Wine Evaluation. The verbal description can be found under Wine Approach, the subject of wine classification levels under Quality System.
