Gold: 95-100pts

These wines are in the big league. They are truly excellent wines which are fully representative of their region, variety and maker; wines of pedigree, great balance and harmony. They sing with a kind of rightness; an effortlessness; a natural symmetry. Over 95 points, they are the best of their breed, with great distinction, a certain thrill factor – and sometimes even uniqueness.

Silver: 90-94pts

The 90-point threshold is an important one, both psychologically and practically. 90 points is a silver medal in many wine competitions, and that indicates a very high quality wine. Aside from technical quality, it will possess character, balance and that hard-to-define element, style. And also textural refinement, as opposed to coarseness.

Bronze: 85-89pts

Good to very good, serviceable, fault-free wines for everyday drinking. Some of these will also be cellarable. The best of them are almost silver-medal quality. Even an 85-point wine can be very good value depending on its price.

80-84pts

75-79pts

1-74pts

NR (Not Rated)

The initials NR instead of a score usually indicate there was something wrong with the bottle sampled. The usual fault is cork-derived taint or random oxidation (also thought to be due to faulty cork). If there is any such suspicion about a wine, it is usually not rated. A back-up bottle is tasted if available. If impressions are below expectation, knowing that the wine was liked on a different occasion, or the wine is from a producer whose wines are normally rated highly, that bottle may also not be rated. An attempt is usually made to taste another bottle, impressions of that bottle recorded at a later date.