How to make sense of wine ratings and medals

Is a 95 point wine good? How about a silver medal wine? And what about a Halliday five star winery? You’ve probably seen all of these different ways of qualifying wine called out on bottles, advertisements, in-store and online before. But with so many different awards and without much context it can be hard to know the difference between what is really a good wine and what’s just good marketing.

To debunk the complicated world of wine ratings we sat down with Dan Murphy’s Head of Fine Wine Andrew ‘Sheds’ Shedden, who’s done more than his fair share of wine judging. Below, he gives us the lowdown on how wines are scored, what scores mean, and the other wine judging methods worth knowing.

The 100 point system is the most commonly used scale for scoring wine quality. In the ‘90s it was influential American wine critic Robert Parker who championed the 100 point system and it quickly became the standard.

To score a wine, critics will taste it and assess a number of factors: colour and appearance, aroma and bouquet (the smells that come from aging), flavour and finish, and overall quality. Each factor carries a different weight and together they’ll add up to a score out of 100. 

Wine labels will proudly shout their 97 point score, but why do you never see a 77 point score? Well, in the world of wine scores getting a 77 is kind of like getting a C- on your maths test. In fact, you’ll really only see people talking about a wine score if it’s above at least 80.

Here’s a breakdown of how to translate wine scores:

97+

Exceptional: the absolute upper echelon, the pinnacle of winemaking.

Gold medal

95 – 96

Outstanding: outstanding character and style

Gold medal

90 – 94

Superior: very good to superior. 

Silver medal

85 – 89

Very good: good to very good.

Bronze medal

While the 100 point system is common, there’s no governing body that oversees it to ensure consistency, which means each critic will score differently. Taste is, after all, subjective. For example, European critics are notoriously tough scorers, and a wine scored a 92 by a European could be scored a 95 by an Australian. The best way to understand wine ratings on a deeper level is to learn more about individual wine critics and over time you’ll begin to notice how tough they score.

Sheds is also quick to point out that while ratings are a good guide when buying wine, it’s important to put them in perspective. “If you find a $15 bottle of wine that’s scored 92 points, that’s a seriously, seriously good value wine. But it’s also hard to compare that to a 97 point wine that might cost $150. Remember to cross check the points with your own value system to decide if a wine is really worth it to you,” he says.

At Dan Murphy’s our in-house team of critics is the Dan Murphy’s Wine Panel who use the 100 point system to assess the wine we sell. “The Dan Murphy’s Wine Panel is an esteemed collective of wine professionals that assess thousands of wines a year to provide a credible, consistent, and respected 100 point evaluation to many of the wines we sell," explains Sheds. Outside of the Wine Panel, members are regularly involved in leading Australian and international wine shows, along with ongoing participation in professional independent wine publications and trade events.

Wine medals are a simplified way to understand ratings at a glance. To get a medal, wines are entered into wine shows and then ranked on the 100 point scale. Medals are then handed out depending on scores (see the table above). Not all wine shows are created equal though, there are some more esteemed shows which are better indicators than others. (Think the Grammys versus the ARIAs.) The wine show system works like a pyramid, starting out in the regions before eventually moving up to national level. 

“Firstly, I’d stick to the major wine region shows (Barossa, Margaret River, Yarra Valley etc.) or the major wine shows for each state: Royal Melbourne, Royal Adelaide, Royal Sydney, etc. These have the most line-ups of wine and arguably the best wine judges in the country. The big one to watch is the National Wine Show of Australia. To compete there you have to have won gold or silver at one of the major shows first,” explains Sheds. “Any of those are the shows worth paying attention to when it comes to medals.”

The pre-eminent wine guide in Australia is the Halliday Wine Companion, a comprehensive annual scoring of Australian wine that was first created by legendary Australian wine critic James Halliday and his expert tasting panel. The panel rigorously tastes over 9,000 wines a year to score both individual wines and wineries overall. Tough gig, right?

Individual wines are scored out of 100, following a system similar to the one above. When it comes to wineries though, Halliday uses a five star system:

5 Red Stars: this is the highest possible rating and indicates the winery produces wines of 'exceptional quality'; has at least two wines rated at 95 points or above; and, for the previous two years, had a five-star rating. A 'Red Red Star' or underlined 'Red Star' indicates the upper echelon of Australian wineries within the '5 Red Star' rated category. Only 100 wineries are given the 'Red Red' rating.

5 Stars: this rating represents an outstanding winery, capable of producing very high quality wine; usually at least two wines from this winery will be rated 95 points or higher.

4.5 Stars: this rating is for excellent wineries capable of producing very high quality wine; usually has at least one wine rated 95 points or higher as well as at least two wines at 90 or above.

4 Stars: this represents a reliable producer of good or very good wines; it has at least one wine scoring 90 points or higher.

3 Stars: this rating represents a good winery; it has wines scored at 86-89 points.

Australian fine wine auction house Langton’s oversees the sale of the country’s very best wine. Every four years they release The Langton’s Classification, a premier guide to Australia's best long-running wines. 

To be classified by Langton’s an Australian wine must establish a track record by having at least 10 vintages produced. But the crucial difference between Langton’s and other wine rankings, is that Langton's system isn’t based on the tasting opinions of critics. Instead, it’s based on the volume and price that a wine has achieved on the secondary market. Sheds explains, “This isn't a critic telling you what the best wine is. This is real fine wine consumers saying, based on what they bought and traded, here are the most important wines in Australia.”

There are three levels of Langton’s Classification that you can look out for:

Exceptional: The most highly sought after and prized first-growth type Australian wine on the market.

Outstanding: Benchmark quality wines with a very strong market following.

Excellent: High performing wines of exquisite quality with solid volume of demand.

Decoded is Dan Murphy’s very own wine awards created for wine lovers, not experts. Each year our panel of judges tastes over 1,000 wines stocked in store to find the very best bottles. “Decoded is all about how people really enjoy wine. We’ve grouped wines by styles and price to make it easier for you to explore what you enjoy within your budget. We’ve stripped back the confusing tasting notes and instead focused on why we loved these wines (and why you’ll love them too),” says Sheds.

Look out for the Decoded winner, finalist, or best value badges in store and online for a simple way to shop delicious wines of all styles and price points.