January 21, 2026 Plume Ridge Bottle Shop

Why Wine Scores are Broken

Wine scores, whether they take the form of 100- or 20-point assessments from well-known wine critics, or the 5-star system championed by platforms such as Vivino are problematic. They seek to compress what is an incredibly multidimensional sensory experience into a single, supposedly authoritative number. While they will be highly considered assessments, often backed by serious expertise and qualifications, any score compresses thoughts on the wine’s aroma, texture, acidity, tannins, its balance, evolution in the glass, the context in which it is consumed and even the emotional state of the drinker into a single number. None of these variables scale neatly onto a single linear axis, yet that is exactly how these scoring systems treat them. The difference between a critic’s score of 93, 94, or 95, is more likely a reflection of mood, time pressure and unconscious bias than any defined qualitative experience.

Crowd-sourced platforms of course promise a more democratic alternative yet introduce a range of distortions of their own. Vivino’s 5-star averages for example, represent a blend of contexts, with bottles opened too young, wines consumed in poor condition, celebratory bias where the event, not the liquid earns five stars, etc. The result is a form of sensory populism that rewards comfort, familiarity and sweetness, while punishing structural nuance, austerity or complexity; all traits that define many of the world’s greatest wines. A 4.2 score on Vivino or a 92 from a famed critic will inevitably be treated as hard data, when in reality it is a fragile numerical veneer originating in the highly subjective, and quite impossible task of accurately quantifying the multifaceted qualities of wine on a linear scale.

The cultural weight of these scores, and what they imply with regard to price and consumer expectations, only serves to magnify their inaccuracies. No wine scoring system can overcome this problem. Yet re-framing the question that underpins the scores in the first place may enable us to avoid many of the structural failings that plague current scoring systems.

We list critic scores on our site because they remain an important reference point for many consumers. After all, a 94-point wine at $20 is a compelling proposition. While score-driven buying habits can be tough to break, we’ll keep championing discovery beyond the numbers.

- Blake Leland

Contributed by Blake Leland, Sommelier for Plume Ridge Bottle Shop.