While the composition of tasting notes and other forms of wine literature has existed throughout the history of wine, the widespread use of numerical rating systems is a relatively recent phenomenon. During the mid 20th century, as American interest in wine was developing, consumers found themselves being introduced to a wide assortment of wines from across the globe. This surplus of available options created a niche market for critics who could provide a service in reviewing wines and making recommendations that could make the buying process easier for consumers. Following a pattern similar to the product reviews of such consumer magazines like Consumer Reports and Which?, American critics began writing more condensed wine reviews that consumers could scan through briefly to identify wines of interest. The popularization of numerical scoring is widely credited to the American wine critic Robert Parker who patterned his system of numerical ratings on the American standardized grading system in the 1970s.

Under Parker’s system, wines were evaluated on a 50-100 scale that roughly correlated to an A-F “grade” on the wine. A wine was considered “above average” or “good” if it got a score of at least 85 points. Readers of wine rating magazines such as Parker’s The Wine Advocate, or its later imitators such as Wine Spectator and The Wine Enthusiast, could quickly at glance see a review of several dozen or even hundreds of available wines broken down into numerical evaluations. These consumers could isolate a range of scores to concentrate their buying purchase on without ever having to try a wine beforehand. Similarly, wine retailers and merchants found themselves with a ready made marketing tool that didn’t even require them to research or sample the wine before they put it on sale.

The popularity of numerical wine ratings became a boon for the wine retailing industry. Wines that received scores classified as “outstanding” (usually 90 points or above) were essentially guaranteed favorable sales in the market. Wines that received “extraordinary” or “classic” ratings of 95-100 began to develop cult followings that, coupled with the limited production, helped to skyrocket their prices. A segment of wine investing emerged that aimed to capitalize on the speculation and eventual price increase surrounding highly scoring wines. The influence of wine ratings was particularly keen in the developing wine markets of Asia, Russia and South America at the turn of the 21st century.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_ratings

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