A wine critic is a person who evaluates wine 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 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
wine region, grape variety, or
vintage. 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, has
taste wines
blind tasting 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
