RATINGS

Throughout the blog section of my site you will find star ratings assigned to most wines. My star rating system is not like many other rating systems so I will explain how I assign them. It’s a little different from other reviewers. I will give 1-3 stars to each wine, with sometimes a half star, which is represented by an “outlined” star “☆.”

★ Great & memorable wine; representative of how it should be; want to open/find it soon; would totally be happy drinking this anytime.

★ ★ Awesome representation of the grape/blend/area, pleasant surprises are likely in the characteristics; I’m already planning a meal around this; I need to personally own this.

★ ★ ★ Amazing; while a perfect representation of the grape/blend/area, many pleasant surprises make themselves known. Harmonious structure and balance, offering even more than expected. Plus there must be something amazing going on here, and possibly mind-blowing.

About my stars and opinions:

When I give my opinion of a wine, it’s in comparison to other wines of that style: wines made of the same grape or blend from the same general place. So while I won’t be giving any arbitrary scores to anything, I will give stars (★) when a wine really stands out. For example, I may give two stars to a Barolo and three to a Piemontese Freisa, but that doesn’t mean I think the Freisa is better than the Barolo, it merely means that the Freisa is the best Piemontese Freisa in comparison to every other Piemontese Friesa I’ve had, while the Barolo, in my opinion, is not the most remarkable Barolo I’ve ever had. But it may still be remarkable for a particular reason. Also if I give both a California and Italian Barbera two stars, it might not mean they are comparably great but compared to others from California, the California one is outstanding, and likewise with the Italian one.

If I don’t give any stars, then it doesn’t necessarily mean I thought it was horrible. I may have liked it. But I’ll qualify the lack of stars by saying I either didn’t rate any of the wines tasted in that entry or I’ll explain it in my qualitative description.

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… sul 21 dicembre, 2011, e io provo anche spiegare in Italiano.

Qui sotto io scrivo una guida per come io assegno le stelle ai vini:

★ Un vino molto buono e memorabile; tipico dalla zona; vorrei trovarlo o aprirlo pìu presto; mi piacerebbe bevanda questo vino in qualsiasi momento.

★ ★ Un vino impressionante; rappresentativo dalla zona; le belle sorprese si presentano; gìa faccio i progetti per fare uno pasto per questo vino; ho bisogno possederlo.

★ ★ ★ Un vino fantastico; un rappresentante perfetto dalla zona; molte belle sorprese si presentano. Ha la struttura equilibrata e armoniosa, offrendo di pìu che si aspetta. Anche c’è qualcosa proprio magnifico (e pazzo) nel vino.

☆ Dove si trova le stelle vuote, si vuole dire una mezza stella.