My scale is totally subjective. The number of stars indicates how much I enjoyed a wine at the time. No more, no less. Assume wines are not tasted blind unless I say otherwise.
* | Avoid |
** | Just about acceptable, but I’d prefer to drink something else |
*** | Perfectly acceptable to good |
**** | Has that little something extra, e.g. intensity of flavour, complexity |
***** | Has a lot of something extra – a wow factor |
****** | Exceptionally good. Difficult to imagine how it could be improved |
As my rating system is about enjoyment, you might find it useful to know a bit more about my tastes. Refreshing aromatic wines of any colour are fine, but heavy treacly reds do little for me. Of the more classic wines, I enjoy red Burgundy, Barolo and Riesling. Not so keen on Claret, or any grape variety with the word Cabernet or Sauvignon in the name. Having said that, I can enjoy all styles of wine in the right context. It seems I like a lot of natural wines, and generally don’t have a problem with brett and VA. Compared to many British wine lovers I tend to prefer younger wines – I do appreciate tertiary flavours but seem to notice lacking fruit at an earlier stage than most.