The Institution
An institution of quiet and considerable consequence.
The story of The Shit Wine Guide: 134 years of considered opinion, carefully minuted.
01
Our founding philosophy
Positioning precedes perception. Perception follows alignment.
The Institution was founded on a single, unwavering proposition: that wine is worth taking seriously, and that those who do not take it seriously should be assessed anyway. This principle, set down in 1891 beneath a stationery warehouse, has guided every judgement, every index and every pause since.
Our founders did not seek to praise wine, nor to condemn it. They sought to classify it, and thereafter to be asked about it. We remain faithful to that ambition.
02
Our institutional heritage
A heritage measured in cellars, committees and carefully minuted silences.
Over 134 years, the Institution has accumulated an Archive of 40,000 Qualified Opinions, 1,214 numbered Standards, nine Articles of Governance and a collection of corks of which the full extent is not known. Each has been catalogued; some have been catalogued twice.
The Council, convened in 1951, has met 612 times. Its minutes, running to some nine million words, record that a great deal was considered and that, on balance, it was agreed.
03
Our global ambitions
To ensure that no wine list, in any territory, goes unconsidered.
The Institution maintains twelve regional centres across five continents and is engaged in the steady extension of its presence to every territory that serves wine, and several that do not.
Our long-term ambition is a world in which every bottle opened is accompanied, somewhere, by a figure to one decimal place.
04
Our approach to wine intelligence
Intelligence without the conventional constraints.
Wine intelligence, as we practise it, is the disciplined collection of opinions, the careful construction of indices and the confident publication of results. It is distinguished from guesswork by its use of decimals.
The International Wine Intelligence Division reads sentiment, vintage performance, regional credibility and consumer confidence across 41 contextual domains, and issues its findings with composure.
05
Our assessment methodology
Seven pours. Eight metrics. One index.
Our assessment methodology, the Seven Pours, was developed over several decades and has not been simplified, on principle. It evaluates every wine across aroma, structure, finish, credibility and expectation, and converts the whole into a single Overall Disappointment Index measured in Dregs.
The methodology is administered by the Wine Assessment Institute under the personal supervision of its Global Head.
06
Our research philosophy
Research is the patient art of confirming what the Institution already suspects.
The Institution’s research is guided by three principles: rigour, rigour and the consideration of further research. Each study is peer reviewed by peers, who are reviewed by other peers, and so forth.
Our publications are written for those who wish to be informed, and for those who wish to be seen holding an informed publication.
07
Our commitment to excellence
Excellence, once defined, is not negotiable. Before it is defined, it is extremely negotiable.
The Institution is committed to excellence in all matters assessable, classifiable or capable of being placed in a table. Our Standards are reviewed annually and found, on each occasion, to be excellent.
Our people are trained, accredited, re-accredited and periodically reminded of the Charter of International Excellence.
08
Our international influence
Quietly shaping the sector for generations.
The Institution’s influence is rarely stated and seldom disputed. Our classifications are used by growers, merchants, restaurants and committees in a great many territories, frequently without attribution and occasionally without awareness.
It is the Institution’s settled view that influence is best exercised gently, at length and in the margins of other people’s documents.
09
Our strategic vision
A single, coherent, extremely well-documented future.
The 2026 Strategic Vision, authored by the Chief Oenological Strategy Officer, sets out four horizons: imminent, approaching, inevitable and decanting. Each is accompanied by its own dashboard.
The Vision commits the Institution to deepening its intelligence, expanding its presence and extending the vocabulary of wine to its natural limits and a little beyond.
010
Our future ambitions
To remain, indefinitely, the Institution that others consult before being asked.
Looking ahead, the Institution intends to open further regional centres, publish further reports and extend the Global Wine Academy to every continent with a suitable lecture hall.
We will do so with the same unhurried confidence that has characterised the past 134 years, and with a further forty seconds of silence in celebration.
Institutional timeline
One hundred and thirty-five years of milestones
From a cellar beneath a stationery warehouse to fourteen territories on five continents.
- 1891
Foundation
The Society for the Considered Appraisal of Beverages is established in a cellar beneath a stationery warehouse in Lower Ashmere. Seven founders are recorded; four attend.
- 1903
The Eleven Articles
The founding principles are codified as the Eleven Articles of Palate Governance. Two are later found to contradict one another and are quietly withdrawn, leaving nine.
- 1927
The Archive of Qualified Opinion
A card catalogue of 40,000 considered opinions is opened to members, each indexed under “Generally,” “Specifically” and “It Depends.”
- 1934
The Graduated Sniff
The first standardised olfactory protocol is adopted. A sniff is, for the first time, required to be repeated.
- 1951
The International Wine Excellence Council
The Council is convened under its first Chairman, who opens proceedings with a silence that is still cited as a precedent.
- 1968
The Index of Reasonable Expectations
The first annual Index is published. It concludes, after 212 pages, that expectations should be reasonable.
- 1974
Adoption of the Dreg
The Dreg is formally adopted as the Institution’s unit of measurable disappointment, replacing the previous unit, the Sigh.
- 1983
The Vintage Reconciliation Bureau
A Bureau is created to reconcile conflicting accounts of any given vintage. It has not yet concluded its first case.
- 1991
The Centenary Convocation
Delegates from sixteen territories gather to mark the Centenary. A commemorative cork is commissioned and remains under review.
- 1999
The International Wine Classification
The five Classes are introduced, from Distinguished to Unclassifiable, and are adopted by acclamation, with one abstention that was never explained.
- 2006
First Regional Intelligence Centre
The Lisbon Centre opens, inaugurating the Institution’s programme of international presence.
- 2012
The Wine Assessment Institute
The Institute is founded under Madame Tolliver-Sjöberg, and the Seven Pours protocol is introduced.
- 2017
The Global Wine Academy
The Academy admits its first cohort of nineteen students, eighteen of whom complete the course.
- 2021
Digital Transformation of the Archive
The card catalogue is digitised. Three cards are misplaced, then located, then reclassified as important.
- 2024
Fourteen Territories
The Institution’s presence reaches fourteen territories across five continents.
- 2026
Phase Two: The Great Expansion
The Institution announces the most ambitious phase in its history, with a Wine Assessment Institute, a Global Academy and a renewed programme of international intelligence.
The Nine Articles of Governance
The principles that guide every pause
Originally eleven, two articles having proved incompatible.
Be Considered
Opinion is not enough. A considered opinion has been left to stand for at least eleven seconds.
Be Consistent
A wine should be assessed in the same manner whether it is expensive or not, and in different manners if it is.
Be Calm
No wine, however disappointing, is to be addressed in a raised voice.
Be Specific
Where possible, say “raspberry.” Where not possible, say “raspberry-adjacent.”
Be Brief
The Institution does not recognise a verdict of more than one sentence, save by prior arrangement.
Be Regional
Every wine belongs to a place. The place should be told.
Be Reciprocal
Opinions shall be exchanged between members on equal terms and at roughly equal length.
Be Provisional
All classifications are final until revised.
Be Unmoved
Reputation, price and label are noted, and not permitted to vote.