PfW
HIGHLY RECOMMENDS A
Critical Survey of Major Wine Review Publications by Steve
Pitcher is a thoroughly researched and excellently-written article,
with samples of covers, circulation and publication data, scope
and quantity of reviews, explanations of tasting methods and scoring
systems, analysis of writing quality and marketplace influence.
Includes California Grapevine, Connoiseurs'
Guide to California Wine, The Underground Wine Journal, The
Wine Advocate, Wine & Spirits, Wine News and The
Wine Spectator. (NOTE:
Steve Pitcher's article disappeared from its original location
online, so we tracked him down and obtained permission to re-publish
it on our site.)
Andy's
Scribblings is the sign-up site
for his UK-based newsletter of wine reviews, offered by
e-mail alternate weeks, and also a portal to UK Wines Online.
Andy's very clever motto: "We spit so you can swallow."
PfW
RECOMMENDS Beverage
Testing Institute posts the results of their wine tasting
reviews, along with related articles on this Tastings.com site.
Tends to review wines that are widely available and from larger
producers with somewhat established track records.
PfW
RECOMMENDS Chris
Kissack's Winedoctor diagnoses a variety of wines and prescribes
therapy with recommendations and general information content
on regions, glossary of terms, etc.; very well-written, well-designed
and nicely laid-out site, although unapologetically Euro-centric.
 Damn
Good Wine has improved design and expanded reviews to
also include some distilled spirits; very chatty, youth-oriented
writing style, sort of like a "wine rave."
PfW
RECOMMENDS Decanter
recommends over 4,000 wines annnually online, although wines not
available for sale in England rarely get reviewed. Their print
magazine is one of the very best for in-depth wine articles.
eBacchus is
a site that originally tendered "community tasting notes," but has become considerably more commercial
 Elgo Wine lists wines that have earned multiple scores and/or medals from recognized critical sources
Fine
Wine Diary Bailey brothers' pages are very clean, fast
to load and search, and their palates are prolific (over
10,000 wines listed) and Eurocentric. The listings are compiled
by venue, rather than wine and search results list only wine
names (identifications are sometimes
incomplete), taster's initials, date tasted and a "star"
rating (up to four). The brief reviews are more judgmental
than descriptive.
PfW
RECOMMENDS Jancis
Robinson offers both Free and subscription-only content on her site. Although
I like Jancis' point of view and writing very much and often
agree with her palate (she is much fairer with New World wines
than many of her peers), the majority of the wines she reviews
are European. |
PfW
RECOMMENDS Ken's
Wine Guide offers many hundreds of wine reviews with
a composite score (100 point scale) based on professional
wine publications. Over half also include tasting notes
and descriptions from Ken or his panel and many include
notes from the winemaker. The site has appealing design,
great organization, many navigational choices, and options
to sort lists by price or by score.
Popping
Corks is both a compilation of wine reviews and a directory
of links to wine reviews from other sources, presented in an
organized and attractive format.
Table
Wine, written and edited by Roland Marandino, focuses on affordable wines
from all areas of the globe, with one eye on quality and the
other on value. Roland's articles always provide background information
and education on the monthly themes with descriptive and informative
tasting notes that often suggest pairings with specific foods.
Wilder
on Wine presents the tasting notes of a trio of wine enthusiasts
from the (San Francisco?) Bay Area. Their self-proclaimed and
applaudable mission is to "make wine less confusing than
dating". Each wine gets a full-page treatment and a chosen
few are awarded the distinction of "Splurge" or "Nectar
of the Gods". There is a downloadable pdf "Pocket
Wine Guide" and an opt-in form to get emailed reviews.
Unfortunately, the site has no search engine and is not set
up in database format, so visitors are left to browse the list
of reviews, sorted-by-most-recent.
Wine Democracy this
nicely-designed site allows anyone to sign up and post their personal
wine reviews, which seem to range the gamut from thoughtful, useful,
and descriptive, to self-indulgent, avaricious, and worthless.
Wine
Enthusiast Wine Guide 2002 The Landware company
teamed with Wine Enthusiast magazine to develop this inexpensive
software package for PDAs with Palm, Pocket PC, or Windows
Mobile OS. It allowed users to conveniently choose, evaluate,
and manage their wine purchases, but was discontinued apparently due to lack of popularity.
|
PfW
RECOMMENDS Wine
Reviews Online is an assemblage of wine reviews and
articles from ten separate U.S. wine journalists; updated
every Wednesday.
PfW
HIGHLY RECOMMENDS Yum
Yuk is the "Wine Guide for the Rest of Us". The reviewers
are
"non-experts" with specific individual flavor preferences.
Read their reviews. Take the Taste Interview to generate your
own flavor profile. |
