Average Critic Score

Critic scores for fine wine is an informed, if subjective, opinion of fine wine quality. However, critic scores are also very influential in terms of demand for, and the price of, fine wine. Rather than use the best critic score to promote our wines, we use a weighted average score, which, while more conservative, we believe is a better representation of quality (according to the critics).

There are and have been various versions of wine scores, for example the 20 point scale, a five star rating and currently most popular, the 100 point scale. They all have their weaknesses, but they are an unavoidable fact of life and a key factor in pricing and consumer decision-making, an evolving trend in most purchases of products and services from travel to appliances to restaurants. We use the most popular system, the 100 point scale. 

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one of those criteria. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews as well as reviews that show consistency with others. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.