Another consideration when scoring wine.

Breathing.

Do these experts give a certain time for the wines to breathe before they approach them? Are all syrah given an hour, all cabs given two hours or do they have another time limit before tasting? Has the bottle just been open?
I think you get the idea. "What criteria do they have?" is the constant. I don't know whether breathe time stretches into days before judgement, so let's assume that it doesn't, after all who's willing to put a few judges up for a couple of nights? probably noone. So that leaves this field wide open to look at a little considered aspect of wine drinking.
It's mentioned in other pages here that some wines need more air and oxidation than others, so let's set a benchmark measurement. How many days does the wine stand up for AND improve in the accepted aspects of normal on the spot tastings. Of course this is going to be a battle of the reds, but remember this is Santa Barbara, where there are no "big" cabs and where merlot can be the biggest wine to one winery but a syrah is for another and some pinots can be served after a Meritage.
Steeping, fermentation and maceration; the challenge for longevity, the fullness of tanin. So far the leader in this criteria is Holus Bolus 2003 syrah where after six days of breathing it was still tighter than a duck's arse in a storm. We're not including ports or other fortified wines in this category just the reds. Now we're talking. In the Cellar Room is the full forum to get this matter sorted and unified, start sending in your entries. The basic ground rule is to use a carafe or decanter, we can look at temperature and other issues within this area too.