Do Ratings Help or Hinder the Wine Consumer?

I believe Ratings help AND hinder the US wine consumer. The US seems to lack a significant "wine culture" and US consumers have been subjected to the 100 point exam scale since the 1st grade -- so ratings are a "familiar" method to judge any product.

Rating hinder the wine consumer because they preclude experimentation, sometime EXCLUDE producers that do not have the finances for "advertising" and generally discount and do not allude to variables such as food, occasion, personal preferences, etc. In addition, there is very vague explanations as to how the components are weighted in the rating.

For me, at the present time, ratings are just another "marketing" tool that drives the producer to make wine for the rating and not representative of their grapes and location. It seems that people who desire the wonderful individuality of wine from different regions suffer the consequences because many wines seem to taste the same.