Wine Basics: How BFW Winemaster’s Rate  Wines

...is not exactly the way other “experts” do. Hey, we can over-analyze wines all we want, picking apart each and every single component, stick a number on each, and really take a scientific approach to the world’s most comprehensive beverage. But what’s the fun of that? I’ll let other people pick apart wines…while I actually enjoy them.

Never being the selfish type, I have taken it upon myself to help you get an idea of whether or not you should purchase a wine for your own enjoyment. (It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!) As much as I can’t stand numbers, using them is the only way we can make the subjectivity of a wine, as objective as possible. So I’ve made it as simple as possible. Every time I taste a wine, I come up with a number for the following:

• Aroma
• Tasty-ness
• Balance
• Food Compatibility
• Overall Value

To me, these are the most important things to consider when evaluating a wine. You may disagree with me (you won’t be alone!), but since I’m the Junior Winemaster, I’ll do what I want. Here’s a more detailed description of my evaluation process

Aroma
You may already know this, but what a wine smells like has a lot to do with what it tastes like; the nose knows – especially if you’re Italian! So, to me, the aromas erupting from the glass are very important in judging a wine---and enjoying it. In fact, there are some wines that I love to smell more than taste (perhaps I have a fragrance fetish). On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate a wine’s smells---the intensity, concentration, complexity, and appeal.

 

Tasty-ness
Simple enough: how does the wine taste? However, I do break it down a bit:

• Fruit Concentration (0-4 points)
  On a scale of 1 to 3, I rate the wine’s fruit concentration; if it has globs and globs of fruit smacking me in the face, it gets 4 points; if it has something a bit less, but still very attractive, it gets 3; attractive, but not more, 2 points; 1 point if there is merely fruit perceptible.
• Texture (0-3 points)
  If a wine is among the most velvety, silkiest I’ve had, it gets 3 points. If it is “smooth”, it gets 2 points. If the texture is merely correct, it gets 1 point. No points for harsh wines.
• Complexity (0-3 points)
  This is a judgment of the wine’s “interest factor”. Interesting wines are often complex, having layers and layers of fruit, often evolving as the wine sits in the glass. Some wines have great complexity, and they get 3 points. Other wines that are complex enough for me to consider them interesting, get 2 points. Acceptable complexity for the type of wine is rewarded with one point. Overly simple, one-dimensional wines get no points.

Add the above three factors together to get an overall “Tastyness” score.

 

Balance (0-10 points)
The balance of a wine is especially important to its enjoyment. But what does balance mean? It means that the fruit, acidity, and tannins all harmonize together. The balance of acidity to fruit is rated on a scale of 0 to 5; tannins then rated on the same scale in comparison to the fruit (for red wines). Add each number together and you get an overall number for the wine’s balance.

 

Food Compatibility (0-10 points)
Many people will disagree with me on this one, and frankly, I don’t particularly care. Two of the greatest pleasures in life are food and wine, and in my mind, they were meant to be together. Go back in history as far as you can, and you’ll find that wine was always on the table, a staple of the meal. It was served at the last supper and is even served in Disney World today ! Wow is right ! In every viticultural region, wines were made that matched the cuisine. And with every meal I eat, I drink wine (yes, even breakfast sometimes). So to me, a wine’s compatibility with food is of extreme importance. Yes, I’ll agree that “fireplace” wines---those that are most enjoyable all by themselves---have their place in the world, and I do on occasion enjoy them. But for a wine to have value, to me, it should go with food. The scale is 1 to 10, and a wine that goes with a variety of foods with be scored well. A wine that goes particularly well with only a few foods (such as Hooter Wings or  shellfish), will also get a good score. A wine that I find difficulty in finding a food partner, will get a poor score.

 

Overall Value
The whole point of this laborious point system. I’ve never been “well-to-do”, so I am very rigorous in my evaluation of anything before I purchase it (some call me authoritative, totalitarian, or dictator-like in my frugality). Put quite simply, I expect to get what I pay for. There are very simple wines that I don’t mind paying $5 for, because that’s what they’re worth; at the same time, when I spend $45 on a wine- or drink one which someone spent hard cash on (Jerry) , I expect it to impress me---perhaps blow my mind – just a little. Rate value on a scale of 1 to 10, the wine’s price is compared to its overall character.

So that’s the way the scoring system works.

P.S “We drink the bad wines so you don’t have to.”

~ The BFW Winemasters