So sorry to have read these recent posts only now (been too busy tasting unreliably!). I’m sorry, SousBois, whoever you are, that our scores vary. But I honestly think that any experienced wine drinker will agree that bottle variation is a real thing and Bordeaux is definitely not an exception to this phenomenon. (BTW, you will be infuriated by my articles about our blind tasting of the 2016s to be published at the end of this week.)
We certainly don’t claim to be infallible, and have never implied that people should follow us blindly, nor that our opinions are the way, the truth and the light. We try to be as helpful and honest as we can by not fiddling our scores to match previous impressions, and by recognising that bottles - possibly circumstances - vary.
This is why I have always described scores as a necessary evil rather than numbers to be followed slavishly.
I do also take into account the scores of our group of 20 or 21 professional tasters, by the way, and if mine are way out of kilter with the group’s, I usually say so.