No. 01 — Methodology
A score is only useful if you can argue with it.
Most wine writing asks you to trust the writer. CellarIQ asks you to trust the method. Every published score below has its components listed, its weights stamped, and its source data traceable to a public URL. If a score looks wrong, the page tells you exactly which input is driving it.
How CellarIQ is different
Most Hunter Valley directories list the businesses that pay to be listed. CellarIQ scores every winery independently, against the published methodology on this page. A Founding Member subscription buys a richer profile — more detail, more control, the tools behind it — but it never buys a higher score. The methodology and the sources are public, and the editorial standards say so plainly.
Four headline scores
Each winery profile carries four scores, all on a 0–100 scale, all recalculated weekly. The scores are independent — a winery can rank high for cellar door experience and average for wine quality, or vice versa. That's the point. A score that bundles everything into a single number tells visitors nothing about which kind of cellar door they're walking into.
Cellar Door Experience Score
Measures the visit itself, not the wine in the bottle.
| Component | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor review sentiment | 40% | Aggregated public reviews from Google Maps, TripAdvisor, and Vivino. We use sentiment, not just star rating — a 4.2 with consistent praise for the staff scores higher than a 4.5 with mixed signals. |
| Experience variety | 25% | Number and depth of tasting experiences — standard flight, premium flight, masterclass, blending session, food pairing. |
| Accessibility | 15% | Wheelchair access, hearing loop, sensory-friendly options, family policy clarity. |
| Food integration | 10% | Cellar door with a working café or restaurant scores higher than tasting-only. |
| Booking ease | 10% | Online booking available, walk-ins welcome, response time on enquiries. |
Wine Quality Score
Measures the wine itself, drawing only on public, verifiable sources.
| Component | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Show medals | 50% | Sydney Royal, Hunter Valley Wine Show, Royal Adelaide, Royal Melbourne, National Wine Show. Weighted by show prestige — a Sydney Royal gold counts more than a regional bronze. |
| Public critic ratings | 30% | Where the winery publishes critic ratings on its own site, we count them. We do not scrape paywalled critic content. |
| Vintage consistency | 20% | Does this winery show up in show results across multiple recent vintages, or one good year? |
Value Score
Tasting cost vs experience depth, and wine price vs wine quality.
| Component | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Tasting fee vs experience | 50% | A $15 redeemable tasting that includes six wines scores higher than a $30 non-redeemable tasting that includes four. |
| Wine price vs quality score | 50% | A winery whose flagship wines score well in the Wine Quality dimension but sit at mid-tier pricing scores higher than one whose pricing outruns its scores. |
Visitor-fit sub-scores
Five sub-scores from 0–100 — Couples, Families, Groups, Wedding Parties, Wine Enthusiasts. These drive the "By Visit Style" discovery on the home page and the intent guide pages. They're calculated from the same underlying data as the headline scores, weighted toward the priorities of each visitor type. A wedding-party fit score weights private function space, group capacity, and food integration; a family fit score weights kids' policy, outdoor space, and accessibility.
What we measure with, and what we don't
Sources we use
- The winery's own website — canonical truth for hours, varietals, contact details, and any awards or ratings the winery itself displays.
- Google Maps Places — location, hours, public photos, public review aggregate.
- Hunter Valley Wine & Tourism Association public directory.
- Wine Australia GI register — for verifying that a wine labelled "Hunter Valley" actually comes from the Hunter Valley GI.
- Australian wine show public results — Sydney Royal, Hunter Valley Wine Show, Royal Adelaide, Royal Melbourne, Royal Queensland, National Wine Show.
- TripAdvisor and Vivino — aggregate ratings only, not individual reviews.
Sources we do not use
- Halliday Wine Companion paywalled content. We do not scrape paid critic platforms. Where a winery itself publishes its Halliday rating on its own website, we count it.
- Member-only forums and private review networks.
- Sponsored or paid placements. Subscription tier does not influence scoring.
Transparency commitments
Inspectable components
Every score on the site links to a "How we calculate this" panel that shows the score's components and their current values. A 91 cellar door experience score might break down as: review sentiment 38/40, experience variety 21/25, accessibility 13/15, food 9/10, booking 10/10. You can see why it scored what it scored.
Methodology versioning
Every score carries a methodology version stamp. When weights change, the version increments and the change is logged in the methodology changelog with date and rationale. Old scores remain comparable because the version is part of the record.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it and we publish what we fixed. The corrections log lists every correction issued — original claim, corrected claim, date, source. If you spot something wrong on your winery's profile, contact us and we'll fix it within 48 hours of verification.
What "Not available" and "Not verified" mean
Not available means the winery has not published this information. We do not invent it — a tasting fee where the winery's site only says "tastings available", or a winemaker bio where one isn't published, is left blank rather than guessed.
Not verified means we found a piece of information in one uncorroborated source. We display it with the Not verified tag until a second source confirms it, or the winery itself confirms it via their claimed profile.
Phase 2 expansion
CellarIQ launches with the Hunter Valley GI region and expands through 2026 to Margaret River, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra, and Tasmania. Each region uses the same methodology with region-specific weights for show prestige — regional shows score against their respective regions; national shows score uniformly.
Source-verified · Methodology v1.0 · Last reviewed November 2026. Questions about a specific score? Contact us.