I have only been seriously into wine for maybe 1 year and a half. So though I have tasted some really good wines I can't really say they are 100 pt wines (for me) because I am not sure if there will be other wines i will find more appealing.
---------- "Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
- Jack Handy
Posts: 1114 | Location: San Diego | Registered: Jan 17, 2006
Well...some people don't even believe in such a thing.
And, while some may share similar feelings about it, not everyone's idea of a 100 pt. wine is the same.
I would say, if you're left in total awe and could care less about what food is in front of you or what is going on around you, you are probably having a 100 pt., or somewhat close to 100 pt. experience. And, for men at least, that could apply to more than just wine...
So much wine.....so little time!!!
Posts: 6824 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: Jun 20, 2002
Originally posted by dr.darkrichandbold: I would say, if you're left in total awe and could care less about what food is in front of you or what is going on around you, you are probably having a 100 pt., or somewhat close to 100 pt. experience.
-------------------- "One may dislike carrots, spinach, beetroot, or the skin on hot milk. But not wine. It is like hating the air that one breathes, since each is equally indispensable."
Marcel Ayme`
Posts: 6957 | Location: The Left Coast | Registered: Dec 01, 2001
Originally posted by Dave Tong BBP: This highlights one of the (myriad) flaws with the 100 point scale.
Note: As far as I know, Tanzer has yet to award 100 points to any wine.
I think that he has said that he won't award a wine 100 pts on release, since he can't be sure that it will be a 100 pt wine later, but he has in unofficial tastings/dinners. I don't remember where I heard that.
A Tanzer 97+ is about as close as I can remember.
Posts: 1401 | Location: Jersey City | Registered: Feb 22, 2006
Originally posted by Dave Tong BBP: This highlights one of the (myriad) flaws with the 100 point scale.
Note: As far as I know, Tanzer has yet to award 100 points to any wine.
I think that he has said that he won't award a wine 100 pts on release, since he can't be sure that it will be a 100 pt wine later, but he has in unofficial tastings/dinners. I don't remember where I heard that.
A Tanzer 97+ is about as close as I can remember.
The highest I have seen Tanzer give is a 98. I think for the '05 Harlan Estate he gave it a 95-98+.
I think for the '05 Harlan Estate he gave it a 95-98+.
I've always found this funny about Tanzer. He's such an old world guy who values a well rounded wine, and seems to appreciate subtlety more than power or concentration. Yet, he's enamored with Harlan (which to me is almost the antithesis of what he seems to appreciate). Especially the Harlan of late in which extraction is pushed to the limit, and most of the wines have a decent level of VA in them.
So much wine.....so little time!!!
Posts: 6824 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: Jun 20, 2002
Unlike the WS and Parker, Tanzer does not give drinking windows as to when the wine will reach maturity to any of the wines he reviews. So I think he gives points as he feels it tastes when he initially tastes the wine. He does however revisit barrel samples and tastes some again after they have been bottled.
Posts: 5238 | Location: minneapolis minnesota usa | Registered: Dec 17, 2003
Originally posted by JFC: I have only been seriously into wine for maybe 1 year and a half. So though I have tasted some really good wines I can't really say they are 100 pt wines (for me) because I am not sure if there will be other wines i will find more appealing.
When you drink a wine and all other wine is ruined for you. You spend massive amounts of cash trying to replicate that experience. Also, it might make you say things heterosexuals normally would not say. For example "that wine was an epiphany".
In all honesty, I don't know. I have been drinking and enjoying wine for a while. I think some people expect too much as give it too much grandeur. Lots of people chasing wine at any cost. I just can't relate. To me it is just a great thing to open at a table with some good food and some other people who enjoy and appreciate it.
Originally posted by Red guy in a blue state: orgasm.
No. That describes a 96-97.
The finish should last several order of magnitude longer.
Funny, I used to have a roommate who privately graded his various girlfriend's performance on a 100-point system not unlike this. He said he never found a 100 pointer. Haven't thought about that in years!
*********** "I was thinking how nothing lasts. And what a shame that is." --Benjamin Button
Posts: 3717 | Location: Everett, WA | Registered: Mar 08, 2002
Originally posted by Red guy in a blue state: orgasm.
No. That describes a 96-97.
The finish should last several order of magnitude longer.
OK, 100 points equals multiple orgasms.
---------- "Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
- Jack Handy
Posts: 1114 | Location: San Diego | Registered: Jan 17, 2006
The 100 point discussion reminds me of this scene from Spinal Tap.
---------- "Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
- Jack Handy
Posts: 1114 | Location: San Diego | Registered: Jan 17, 2006
Thanks for the insight...but then the question becomes would you change the rating of a wine you previously gave 100 pts to considering you have tasted it before and the novelty has ran out? In other words, do you consider novelty to be part of a high rating wine.
I wrote a post on my blog a while back...my main point was that while our palates evolve throughout our lives, what constitutes a perfect wine is always changing.
Also, what is a 100 point wine today (the standards for 100 points) is likely to be a 95 point wine in 50 years as viticulture techniques improve and molecular biology becomes a larger part of wine making.
I don't think a wine is necessarily capable of being 100 points because I've got to believe there is always something better. That said, the essence of a 99 point wine would be that even after tasting it, I wouldn't fully believe that a wine could ever be that good again, or at least, not in that way -- completely not duplicatable. The essence of a 98point wine would be that it is the very best wine that I can imagine drinking, or in that basic league. The essence of a 97 point wine would be that it is of the order of the very best wine that I could ever hope or expect of a bottle. The highest I ever scored a wine was 96.5 (1992 Dalla Valle 'Maya') although there have been a handful of other wines I could have scoed as high (1997 Quintarelli Alzero immediately comes to mind). I have also said that the 1999 Dalla Valle 'Maya' may one day be a 97 point wine to me.
"What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" -- W.C. Fields
