How We Rate Wines

Our rating system is simple, there are three basic categories: Quality wine at a bargain price, Recommended as a buy, or Not recommended.

For us to give it a rating of Quality wine at a bargain price it has to be one of the best value (quality/price) wines we’ve found for that grape variety. In short this is our best-of-the-best rating for wines under $15.00. When we identify wines in this category we immediately go back to the store and buy more.

The Recommended as a buy rating is given to wines that are head-and-shoulders better than the rest and clearly are a good quality for the price. Wines in this category our what we call a “Good Buy”. We do use a sliding scale for this rating that weighs both quality and cost. For example, a very inexpensive wine ($5.00) that was very drinkable or a more expensive wine ($50.00) that was outstanding quality could both receive this rating, but the more expensive wine has to be significantly better in quality than the inexpensive bottle. The wines with this rating are a good value and the ones we enjoy and buy again.

Our Not recommended rating simply means we didn’t think the wine was a good value for the cost and will not purchase it again. It may be a very drinkable wine, but we’ve had better (of that grape variety) for less cost.

For additional information about us and where we purchase wine see the About Tastingonline.com.