RVF switches to the 100 point scale.

La Revue du Vin de France (RVF) has decided to convert to the American 100 point scale so as to give their ratings greater international outreach and credibility. Previously they used a nominally 20 point scale starting effectively at 12 with half point gradations. 12 now converts to 84 with each additional +0.5/20 converting to +1/100. This a former 15/20 becomes 90/100, 17/20 becomes 94/100 and so on.

In their November number they are using this 100 point scale for the first time and my immediate reaction is the astonishment at the large number of wines rated in the higher 90s. Intuitively it doesn't seem right to me, for example, that 14 of their tastings of Beaujolais crus from 2017 to 2019 are rated 95 and above, culminating at 98 with Domaine Louis Claude Desvignes Morgon Côte du Py Javennières Les Impénitents 2019.

[rant]The Robert Parker scale is actually a 50-point scale since 50 is the lowest possible score. Its popularity is due to the way it kinda sorta lines up with the percentage system commonly used in the USA for grading school exams: 50-59=failure; 60-69=below average; 70-79=average; 80-89=above average; 90-100=outstanding. The UC Davis 20-point scale is more complicated.

In my academic training in the experimental sciences I had beat into me the concepts of precision and accuracy in measurements, and especially the importance of not reporting precision to which a measurement isn't entitled. IMO, reducing the evaluation of a wine to a single number is questionable and dodgy at best, and if you are going to resort to a number, a 20-point range is a claim to more precision than you're entitled, and 50-points is preposterous. That's why I use Stuart Yaniger's Three Stooges rating scheme in my wine tasting notes.[/rant]

-Paul W.

Simple, I do not take notice of scores!

Simple, I do not take notice of scores!

I find high scores from certain sources an automatic turn-off.