 92 points Robert Parker, 93 points James Suckling, 97 points wine spectator, 4.2 on Vavino. Do these scores matter? We're going to talk about it in this video. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horky. We are going to talk about wine scores today. Do they even matter? This is something that wine people like to argue all the time. Most of all, wine geeks like to argue about it and then number two, just general consumers, they find it kind of confusing. So we're going to talk about, do they actually even matter for casual wine drinkers? People that are just drinking wine just out of pure enjoyment? Do wine scores matter? No, they really do not. Think about when you're at a restaurant with a loved one or friends or family. If you choose a 94 point wine off a wine list versus a wine that scored 85 points, 84 points, are you going to get 10% more enjoyment? Are you going to get 10% more connection with those people? Are you going to get 10% more laughs? Number two, you got to realize that most people are buying wines in supermarkets and a lot of those wines are just meant to be table wines. They're not going to be scored by the major press. Another reason is we're always changing. Our perception of what's in the glass is always changing. Think about a song that you really love. For me, maybe something just stupid and fun. Something like Journey. Don't Stop Believing. If it comes out on the radio, some days I'm really feeling and I'm like, don't stop believing it. And then other days, maybe I'm not in such a good mood, it comes on the radio. I'm not so excited. I'll turn it down. Another reason that wine scores don't matter, such a small percentage of the wines produced around the world are actually scored by publications that matter. We spend a lot of time in Central and Eastern Europe. We also go to Italy, France, USA, Spain, Portugal every year, but that time we do spend time in places like Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, and I can tell you what. Less than one percent of those wines being produced are actually scored in places like Robert Parker, James Suckling, Venice, De Canter magazine in the UK. Real small percentage and there are some lovely wines being made. Rosé, a wine that, a simple wine where sales are going up around the world every single year. It's not a wine that's actually usually scored very high in major publications. Does that make it any less fun to drink? Here's the other side of the story. Here's why wine scores matter to me. When I started learning about wine, I couldn't travel around the world. I couldn't taste all these wines, but I could pick up a publication. I could read. I could look at the numbers. That would give me a general perception of quality. I think scores are really powerful if you get to know the person that is the reviewer that's actually scoring and use it as a guideline. For example, we are subscribed to four major US publications. James Suckling, Venice by Antonio Galloni, Robert Parker and Wine Spectator. You know what? I really enjoy reading the scores from Venice and Robert Parker, but it really depends on the critic. Some critics I don't agree with as much and some match up with my palette a little closer. Another tool I use are apps. Vivino. We're very active on Vivino. I know a lot of SMLAs hate on Vivino, say that people are just scanning and looking and looking at the score to see if they want to buy the wine or not. Some people say that there are too many amateurs on Vivino. I'll tell you what. What I've noticed with major wines, if there's at least a hundred reviews on Vivino, that score usually matches up pretty close to something that I would score. I think they are very useful tools. The argument I always get when I talk to other wine professionals is, oh, you should be able to evaluate the wine just based on tasting notes. I see so many people writing about wine, wine blogs, everything like that, where I feel like they're just writing just to get samples of wine. And I can't even tell if they like the wine or not. And then some publications, the tasting note, gives me no idea about the quality of wine. Let me read you a tasting note and you tell me if you think the wine is good or not. This is from Wine Spectator Magazine. Tasting note, tart cherry and raspberry flavors mingle with orange peel and balsamic flavors in this tangy red. Vibrant acidity centers the structure, backed by light tannins. Drink now through 2022. Does that sound like a wine you want to drink? Do you think that wine got a super high score or do you think it didn't score so well? That wine is actually a Ribera del Duero from Spain that scored 84 points. In today's world, that's like a wine that's not even that exciting. It's a wine that I drank recently and I found incredibly exciting. I thought it was very good for the money. So once again, you got to know the reviewer. You have to know your own palette. I know that's an imperfect system, but I like to see how people judge the quality of wine. There are a lot of mistakes out here and there's a lot of fantastic wines in our score. Let's take this, for example. This is Ariacine La Jorra, The Joy 2016. This got 94 points, Robert Parker, and it's a lovely wine. On the flip side, we have this beautiful wine we always enjoy from Enningi in Croatia, the Venier White from 2010. This is current release. I think this is fantastic. We've taken this to Masters of Wines, Champagne House owners. They said, I thought this was an Alsatian Grand Cru. Fantastic wine. It is not scored by major press. So once again, use the scores as a guideline only. So I'd like to know, do you depend on scores? Do you just look at tasting notes or do you not care? You just go off people's recommendations. Let us know in the comments section below. And guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Exotic Wine Travel. I will see you at the next episode.