Reviews
We are looking at several ways to refresh our rating system. However, our vision will remain. Simple, down to earth, and easy to understand is our goal. The wines we review will be wines we have purchased with our own hard earned money. We will not rate wines based on "tastings". The world is full of "experts" that "taste" wine everyday. At WineZealot.Com we are wine Drinkers. We do not spit, and we enjoy all aspects of wine and do not want to cheat you or ourselves from wine's otherworldly experience. What does this mean for you? Our approach will be from that of a consumer. We will drink the wine and see where the wine is presently and where it may be in the future. Tasters and critics go through the wine almost like an assembly line. Look, Sip, Swirl, Taste, Spit, and then move on to the next wine in line, often tasting from 4 to several 100's of wines in a sitting. There is no sense of ground with this approach. There usually are some sort of tasting notes and drinking recommendations, but no sense of replication for you the consumer.
Points are points, but what do they mean to you? Have you ever had a high 90 pointer from a critic, only to look at the bottle in astonishment? How did they get that score? Most of those wines are so tight and young. Was it decanted? Was it 96 points in the first hour or four hours later? Was it based on speculation? We will LIVE with the wine and pass along any and all information our palate provides.
Lastly, we are wine lovers. Points are points. Can my palate discern a 93 pointer from a 95 pointer? What about you? It is hard to say, palates are subjective to many different variables. We will use a very simple system. Poor, Average, Above Average, and Exceptional. POOR will be a tough rating for us to give, even though we are using our own money to purchase these wines. There are clearly flaws associated with these wines. Most wines will fall in the AVERAGE category. These wines are good. They do not have overly flawed characteristics, but they certainly are not making you tell the next 20 people about your experience. ABOVE AVERAGE wine take some aspect of AVERAGE to the next level. They are certainly wines worth seeking out, even if you have to go out of your way. EXCEPTIONAL wines will be very rare. Safe to say an EXCEPTIONAL wine will be one for significant special occasions and wines to buy and share with the ones you care about the most.