Is Ignorance Bliss? The evolving palate.

Although wine ratings are subjective and only useful when you have an understanding of the background and palate of the person that is scoring the wine, I support their use and post ratings on this website (see My Ratings page for my system). Lately I’ve been thinking about my ratings and thinking of ways to improve my reporting of the quality and value of the wines I taste (see my new “Value” rating system). I’ve also noticed that in all of the reviews I have written, I have yet to give a wine a rating of 100 points (perfect score). While I have had 100 point wines (per other critics ratings) I do not feel that I have had a “perfect” wine. This leaves me asking myself, am I stubborn? Is there even a difference between 99 and 100 points? Maybe not from a bystander’s perspective, but from my perspective there is.

In my opinion, the rating of 100 points is reserved for an all-around “perfect” wine. Brilliant color, complex, enticing nose, elegant layers of fruits and spice, perfect balance, and a memorable finish. It is reserved for a special wine that captures all of the hard work that goes into producing that bottle of wine and the magnificence of the processes by which normal grape juice becomes an elegant and perfectly structured wine. In short, a 100 point wine exemplifies the pinnacle of thousands of years of winemaking technology. Although I have had many outstanding wines, not one has left me thinking that it was “as good as it gets.”

But what exactly is a perfect wine? Can anyone ever truly rate a wine as being 100 points not knowing what future bottles may bring? Can one 100 point wine be better than another 100 point wine? That being asked, how would a novice wine drinker compare a 1982 Lafite-Rothschild to a 2001 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Madonna del Piano Riserva (see label image above)? They are completely different styles of wine and with a serious age difference to boot. At what point can one even begin to appreciate or understand a “perfect” wine?

100 is the New 90

As the novice drinker moves towards a better understanding of wine (READ: begins drinking a lot of wine) and becomes more serious in his or her pursuits, their rating of a 100 point wine generally becomes a 90 point wine. That is to say that once they develop a palate for fine wines, they begin to realize that wines that they once thought were near perfect, were actually just very good wines in the grand scheme of things. This is of course, expected. While they may have had high quality, professionally scored 100 point wines, it isn’t until they have had an opportunity to try hundreds, even thousands of wines of all types and ratings that they can truly understand what merits 100 points on a traditional scale, or what it means on their scale.

For instance, one of the first very high quality wines I tasted when I was falling in love with wine was a 1994 Opus One (tasted in 2001). Hardly considered 100 points, at the time I felt this was what a great wine could and should be and would have had a hard time believing that wine could be any better than that. In an essence, that wine opened my eyes to what fine wine was supposed to be. In the year or two following, I spent my time focusing on California Cabernet, thinking that this had to be the best wine in the world. I bought Stags Leap, Robert Mondavi Reserves, Joseph Phelps and the like.

All the while, I tried only a few Bordeauxs, Barolo’s and other great wines of the world without serious effort or financial commitment to those other wines. This allowed me to begin to really understand the difference between a good, a great and an outstanding California Cabernet, while my appreciation of the other styles of wines was left at the most basic level. I was at the point where a both a Grand Cru Burgundy and a great American Pinot Noir were both just very good. It has taken many more years to develop a true understanding and appreciation of what these wines can accomplish and only now do I feel that I can distinguish between a great (94 pts) and an outstanding (98 pts)Burgundy.

Perhaps, ignorance is bliss. Maybe a forever novice palate, one in which there is no pursuit for wine knowledge and understanding of the beauty that is wine culture, is a blessing. Often when drinking wines with friends and family who are not wine enthusiasts, I consider the repercussions of my desire to learn about and taste world class wines. No longer can I enjoy just any wine with my dinner. I seek a good pairing, whether it be a $10 or $100 bottle. No longer do I sit back and agree that the Carlos Rossi would be fine with the spaghetti. When it’s all said and done, my 90 point wine is consistently the “best wine” my father has ever had. Time and time again. I insist that there is a difference between a California Cabernet and a Bordeaux, but he just thinks they both taste “fine.” Am I missing out or is he?

100 points in 2007 versus 100 points in 2107

Another thing to consider is technological advancement in wine making. As this technology improves, our ability to produce high quality wines will continually increase. With the help of molecular biologists, geologists, and scientists in many other fields, winemakers learn what types of grapes to grow on which soils, when to harvest, and even what methods to use for fermentation and aging. Further, as we develop a better understanding for the biochemical aspects of wine production, our ability to control and enhance certain steps of production will increase. This will likely lead to an ongoing increase in both overall and peak quality of wines. It is quite possible that a wine that today would be considered perfect (100 pts) will in fact be just another fine wine (90 pts) in 100 or more years (global warming aside!).

Somewhat unrelated, I am very interested in your answer to this question: If I had the ability to produce a wine in the laboratory, that was better than any wine you had ever tasted before yet cost the same as a generic table wine, would you buy it? Or is there something more to a wine than just how it smells and tastes? Is the story of the wine as important to you as the quality? Please leave a comment and let me know how you feel.