44% rated over 90 points

[Roy Hersh]

That would be 44% of all Washington State wines rated by the Wine Spectator, were awarded at least 90 points. That seems a remarkably high % for a state with well over 600 wineries (2nd only to CA).

[Derek T.]

With 600 wineries it seems reasonable to assume that there will be around 2-3,000 different wines produced in WA. Do we know how may of those were rated by WS?

If they only evaluated say the top 20% of wines from the state, the 44% stat would be less that 10% of all the wines produced, which seems reasonable.

...then again, I'm just making these numbers up so someone who knows better should chime in before anyone believes me

[Glenn E.]

Something to remember is that wine ratings aren't a zero-sum game. There's no mathematical "average" requirement to the scores. So if the winemakers in a region are good enough at their jobs, it is theoretically possible for ALL wines from that region to rate 90 points or higher.

[Eric Menchen]

My guess is that about 44% of the wines rated in the world score over 90 points. We could go on about why, but we've discussed it before.