The Rating System

To me a double-digit point score implies a precision that tasting does not have. So Volary does something a little different, to help point you in the direction of a wine you might want. Every wine is judged on the same terrain-led terms and sorted into one of four tiers, based on how well it is made and how clearly it speaks of its variety and place.

The scale is the contract. The same standard applies every time, so the more you read, the better you know what a tier means for you before you open the bottle. It's not a guide on when to drink. That is a separate call, marked on each tasting note as Now, Cellar 2–5 years or Cellar 5+ years.

At the end of the day tasting is highly personal and this is a guide to help point in the right direction to find a bottle you will enjoy the most.

The quick version

• Grounded: Cleanly made and true to its variety and region. No faults, no surprises.
• Solid: Made with clear intent. Shows character beyond the baseline and is worth seeking out.
• Striking: Distinctive and memorable. Real skill or site expression you can taste.
• Exceptional: Benchmark quality. Holds its own against the best of the variety nationally. Rare.

What each tier means

Grounded

Grounded is the floor, and the floor is a compliment. A Grounded wine is cleanly made, free of faults, and true to what its variety and region should give you. It does nothing unexpected, and it does not need to. This is the dependable bottle for a weeknight or a crowd. It is also the lowest rating Volary publishes: wines that do not reach Grounded are not written about, because the point is to send you towards what is worth drinking, not to catalogue the rest.

Solid

A clear step up, and you can taste the intent behind it: better balance, cleaner fruit, more to hold your attention. A Solid wine shows character beyond the baseline and represents its variety and region well. When I call a wine Solid, I mean it is genuinely good and worth seeking out if you are in the region or chasing the variety. Most of what gets published lands at Grounded or Solid.

Striking

A Striking wine stands apart. It carries something the others do not: a distinct personality, or a clarity of site and variety that makes it stay with you. It is the kind of bottle that shifts your sense of what Queensland can do. I use Striking sparingly and on purpose.

Exceptional

The rarest call. Exceptional is reserved for wine of national benchmark quality: balanced, and structured to reward years in the cellar. It is a wine that would hold its own tasted blind against the best examples of its variety anywhere in the country. That is a serious claim, and I only make it when it is defensible.

The standard does not move

The rating is always my call, read from the glass and nothing else. I do not lift a tier to match a producer's marketing or to protect a relationship. Where a wine or hospitality was provided free, the tasting note says so, and the verdict is still mine.