Wine ratings and The Olympics compared

I was watching the Olympics last night when I realized wine is like the Olympics!

To me, wine ratings are like the Olympics, specifically the medals. I'll explain.

First, a quick explanation about ratings for wine. There are many wine raters and almost all of them use a scale up to 100 points. In some cases the rating is given by just one person. In others, it could be a panel of people and their ratings are averaged. A perfect wine (100 pts.) is rare, but it happens. If they are rated, most good to great wines fall between 85-99. That should help with my thoughts below.

Here's my comparison:
Gold Medal = 95-100 pt. wines
These wines are outstanding by most accounts. They have everything going for them: grapes sourced from excellent vineyards, meticulously cared for in the cellar, and are generally smaller production.

Silver Medal = 90-94 pt. wines
90 points, for some reason, appears to be the threshold for what the wine world calls great wines. Most of these wines you and I would drink on a special occasion. They also represent wines that for some of us may be the best we taste....ever.

Bronze Medal = 85-89 pt. wines
For the most part, wines in this category are good everyday drinking wines. By our (mine, yours) account, some are nothing special, some are outstanding. I think it's the most overlooked category for great value.

Now that the basis is set, I'll go further.

Usually, I don't care a lot about wine ratings. To me, these ratings only add or detract from the real wine behind them. The ratings are a snapshot in time of how the wine tasted on that one day by that one person (or panel). Often this tasting happens long before the release of the wine. On a different day, the result could be a rating higher or lower.

To the same respect, medals from the Olympics and the medals awarded are just a snapshot of the best athletes at that moment in time. On another day, it could have been another athlete. Maybe not, but it could have been.

So what's important to me? Of course, I want the wine to taste good. Otherwise, why drink it? Beyond that, what I care about is the story behind the wine. Where did the grapes come from? What was the weather like during that year? How were the grapes processed through the winery? What barrels were used? Etc... I want to know the wine in all its aspects.

Along the same lines, what I look forward to when watching the Olympics are the stories behind the athletes. The struggles they've been through to get there and the injuries they have overcome are all part of what make the medals they win valuable.

Do wine ratings help sell wine on a shelf? Absolutely. Is that all that matters? Not by a long shot.

Next time you open a bottle of wine, look it up and see where it came from. You may just learn the story behind it and you might enjoy it that much more.

Cheers!