The answer is quite simple: having consumers and wine lovers like you in mind. We believe tasting notes and ratings are meant to explain the style of a wine, its quality level and, if necessary, give advice on when to drink it. The score on it own does not mean much - points by themselves fail to explain the features of the wine we have in our glass, its structure, texture or whether it can be drunk now or should age in the cellar for a few more months.
At SWL we taste wines both blind (without knowing its identity) and not blind. Obviously, in most press events and fairs we are clearly aware of the brands that are being served to us. Blind tastings, however, are especially useful to assess the quality of specific categories of wines grouped by region, vintage or grape variety. Bearing in mind the huge diversity of wines available nowadays, samples are better assessed among their peers. At SWL we use specific icons to highlight those wines that stand out within their category, those that offer the best value and, of course, wines which have the ability to excite and amaze the senses (these are, obviously, our favourites).
SWL uses the 20-point system. We believe that, in spite of the fact that it has a more limited scoring scale than the widely used 50-100-point system, it still allows us to establish accurate levels of quality compared to the huge amount of labels currently cramped in the 90-100 points flight. Obviously, the 20-point system has much less impact, but we think it fits our philosophy that points are just a part of wine assessment.
For those who would rather stick with the 50-100-point system, we suggest the following conversion chart: