grand vin

Designation for a wine of superlatives. Only an absolute top wine should be considered 'great' or 'grand'.

When tasted by professionals, it scores between 94 and 100 in the '100-point system'. A '20' (in the '20-point system') or '100' (in the '100-point system') is considered a sensation. These wines are additionally often honored with designations like 'century wine' or even 'millennium wine'.

On the other hand, the authors of such high ratings are sometimes accused of excessive 'generosity' by other connoisseurs. Moreover, sometimes 'peripheral politics' plays into such high ratings, which might presumably have something to do with money, marketing, prestige and power rather than true quality of the wine.

It is therefore a basic principle, especially among true connoisseurs, to use this elitist designation only very sparingly and at the same time not to accept the assessment of 'great' from other connoisseurs in a sweeping and rash manner, let alone the self-praise of some winemakers/houses and/or the pompous 'chatter' of some marketing managers.