Well, sometimes. Like any public information available today you have to consider the source. Just because a story is distorted by Fox News or CNN doesn't mean all news sources are useless. I suggest the same is true for scores. If you are familiar with a particular reviewer and understand what his or her scores represent, they can be very useful. But you must consider the source when considering a score.
The bigger problem is that scores don't tell the average consumer what they need to know. A score doesn't describe a style and most people want to buy the style of wine they like. If a label or review identified relative levels of sweetness, acid, tannin, body, bitterness and alcohol it would be a simple matter of finding wines to fit your style preference. There was a system developed in Australia to provide this exact information in a simple graph, which could be on every back label. It's a crying shame it never caught on.
One more reason why wine scores are useless, 2022 explanation
Well, sometimes. Like any public information available today you have to consider the source. Just because a story is distorted by Fox News or CNN doesn't mean all news sources are useless. I suggest the same is true for scores. If you are familiar with a particular reviewer and understand what his or her scores represent, they can be very useful. But you must consider the source when considering a score.
The bigger problem is that scores don't tell the average consumer what they need to know. A score doesn't describe a style and most people want to buy the style of wine they like. If a label or review identified relative levels of sweetness, acid, tannin, body, bitterness and alcohol it would be a simple matter of finding wines to fit your style preference. There was a system developed in Australia to provide this exact information in a simple graph, which could be on every back label. It's a crying shame it never caught on.