A wine critic is a person who evaluates

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and describes it either with a numerical rating, a tasting note, or a combination of both. Their critiques, found in books, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, online, or in sales materials for wine, are often used by

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s in the process of deciding whether or not to buy a wine.

Journalistic criticism

Critics working for wine-related magazines generally review new releases, often in comparison with other wines from the same

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, grape variety, or

vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

. Occasionally, retrospective tastings will be published as well, tasting wines years or decades after their initial review was published.

Methodology

The tasting methodology of different outlets varies; for example, the American publication, ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine, wine culture and wine ratings. It is the flagship publication of M. Shanken Communications, which also publishes ''Cigar Aficionado'', ''Whisky Advocate'', ''Market Watch' ...

'', has

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

s taste wines blind in flights of similar vintage and variety. Other outlets taste in similar fashion. Different critics will use different descriptive scales, with the major US critics using a 50–100 point scale, and most newspapers using a 5-star scale.

Notable critics

* James Laube, editor at ''Wine Spectator'' * Antonio Galloni, former reviewer at ''Wine Advocate''; founder of ''Vinous'' * Allen Meadows, publisher of '' Burghound'' * Robert M. Parker, publisher of the '' Wine Advocate'' * Lisa Perrotti-Brown, editor in chief of the '' Wine Advocate''; Master of Wine *

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

, British Master of Wine; ''Financial Times'' writer * Stephen Tanzer, editor at '' Vinous'' * Gary Vaynerchuk, director of Wine Library, former

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

critic

References

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