(RobbReport) - When it comes to opinions on bottles of vino, one thing is absolute: They are incredibly polarizing. Points can help the average wine consumer. The world of wine is vast and complex, with hundreds of varieties and regions, so scores can provide a gauge to purchase wine confidently and independently, even if that shelf talker with a 95-point endorsement is all the buyer knows about that bottle.

A high score doesn’t always mean the wine is excellent, however. In many regions a high score merely reflects the style of wine currently trending or preferred by a particular critic. Over the last few decades, especially in California, that translates into very ripe, concentrated, full-bodied wines with a bludgeoning of new oak. Many high-scoring wines are also transient: Because they are designed to be flashy in their youth, they end up aging about as well as a child star in Hollywood (with some exceptions).