Quality and quantity

The philosopher Hegel argued that measurement is the synthesis between quality and quantity and this is what we do when determining a point-rating for a wine (also when grading a student): we synthesize an evaluation into a number that can be immediately understood.

We do not intend to go too deeply here into philosophic questions.  However, it should not be forgotten that “quantity” and “quality” were two of the ten categories that Aristotle said could be used to define reality, which waspollachòs legòmenon (πολλαχῶς λεγόμενον), in other words, what manifested itself in many ways. For Hegel, they represented two opposites in the dialectic approach of the Absolute Spirit, and which were synthesized in “measure”.

Why I am I saying all this, repeating lessons I gave as a teacher of philosophy, and, above all, what does it have to do with the world of wine? The answer is simple, if you think about it. As in any concrete situation, also in this case there exist different positions on how to approach these two aspects when evaluating a wine. There are those who have adopted the quantitative, numeric principle to synthesize their opinion of a particular wine. This began in France using a system of “twentieths” to rate Bordeaux wines. It was later reutilized by Gault&Millau and turned into points to rate restaurants. Then from the United States came Robert Parker and Wine Spectator with their “cents”. Then even we here in Italy, and myself in particular, adopted a scale of one out of 100, first in Gambero Rosso and now in DoctorWine. The Gambero Rosso “three glasses” rating was also a numeric one, thus quantitative, but it was the result of a compromise with Slow Food because Carlo Petrini wanted nothing to do with Robert Parker’s “cents” and so I came up with this system to keep everyone happy.

Opposed to this world vision are those who argue that a quantitative system of cannot measure the quality of something, in our case wine. This brings to mind an old TV ad in which a woman kept asking her partner “How much do you love me?”. In other words, how much to I love this particular wine on a scale of one to 100? From a purely theoretically point of view this is a stretch, even if Hegel argued that measurement is the synthesis between quality and quantity and this would in some way justify it. The same rating approach is used in many other sectors without anyone complaining. Soccer players’ performances are rated, movies and books receive numeric ratings in newspapers, some astrologists use it to rate daily horoscopes, car evaluations use numbers, with ratings for various categories, contest short lists are drawn up using a numeric system, university degrees have various ratings and even children and relatives are sometimes rated. Then there is grading in school, where children, people, are rated as opposed to this or that wine. I think everyone can remember what it means to receive a “C”, “D” or “A”. For those who went to university there was summa cum laude.

These are all syntheses useful to understand and this, in my opinion, justifies making the “stretch” in regard to “measuring” quality. While I understand the principles on which people criticized the point system, I will continue to use it at least until every school around the world keeps using a grading system. And should my old friend Professor Attilio Scienza continue to oppose these systems, as he has for some time now, I can only remind him how he has graded his many students over his long and distinguished university career and so it would be best to coherent.