ABOUT OUR RATING SCALE & QUOTED PRICES

Rating Bottled Wines

For wines that are bottled we use a rating system as described below.

Perfection — This is an absolutely perfect wine, the ne plus ultra.

Extraordinary — A Extraordinary wine is nearly flawless.

Outstanding — A Outstanding wine is a wine of clearly superior quality and a must buy.

Highly Recommended — This is a wine that is highly recommended with special qualities.

Recommended — This is a wine that is recommended with no significant defects.

A plus is given to wines slightly better than other wines in a given category.

Wines are ranked on this system on the basis of relative merit.

Wines not receiving at least a recommended rating are noted with no comment or not noted at all

Best Buy: A Best Buy designation is given if the wines are priced substantially less than other wines of the same type and quality.

Rating Wines From Barrel Prior To Bottling

Wines tasted from barrel before bottling are rated on a three tier scale, based on potential.

Extraordinary Potential

Outstanding Potential

Very Good Potential

A plus is given to wines slightly better than other wines in a given category.

Wines tasted from barrel are accorded only potential rankings. They are not “finished” wines and can change significantly during the wine making process prior to bottling. We do not believe in precise ratings for unfinished wines.

Quoted Prices

Unless otherwise noted, quoted prices are either prices we paid for the wines or an approximate retail price. It should be noted that prices for the same wine can vary significantly.