Vinous acquires Tanzer's IWC

Wow. Announcement below:

Dear Friends,

This morning I am thrilled to announce that Vinous has agreed to acquire Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. You, our loyal subscribers, are the first to hear the news. The press release is here.

One of the most admired and respected tasters in the world, Steve Tanzer has set a high bar for independent wine criticism since he founded IWC in 1985. I have known Steve for over a decade, first as a reader of IWC and later as a colleague. I am delighted to welcome Steve to Vinous and am confident readers will find tremendous value in his insights and considerable experience.

I will continue to review the wines of Italy, Napa Valley, Champagne, Bordeaux, Sonoma, Santa Barbara and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Steve will take over primary responsibility for reviewing new releases from Burgundy (including Chablis), Washington, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Port and Tokaj. I plan to spend a good amount of time in Burgundy, but my focus over the near and medium term will be on our interactive map project, although I will continue to visit domaines Steve has historically not covered. In a similar vein, Steve will continue to write about Napa Valley, where his focus will be on vertical and retrospective tastings. Steve’s first article for Vinous will be on Washington.

Along with Steve, we will be welcoming the entire IWC editorial team to Vinous. Josh Raynolds will cover Spain, Rhône, Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence, Oregon, Australia, Paso Robles, Santa Lucia Highlands and Chile. Josh’s passion, enthusiasm and knowledge are incredibly wide-ranging. I am sure Vinous readers will feel the same way. Josh’s first article for Vinous will focus on new releases from the Rhône Valley.

When it comes to Italy, there is no one I hold in higher regard than Ian D’Agata. I have asked Ian to take over Central and Southern Italy, where the proliferation of top-flight wines now requires more time and attention than I have been able to dedicate. Ian’s first new article for Vinous will be on Alsace, a long-standing passion and a region Ian has visited regularly for the last 30 years. Ian will also be reporting on the wines of his native Canada.

Joel Payne will cover Austria, Germany and the Loire, three world-class regions that deserve more attention. Personally, I am looking forward to learning from Joel, as I adore those wines, but don’t get to spend as much time with them as I would like to. Joel’s first article for Vinous will focus on Chenin Blanc, and will be followed by three verticals of Germany’s greatest Rieslings.

Over the coming days and weeks we will be adding IWC’s archive of 150,000 reviews and more than 500 articles to the Vinous database. During this time, the existing IWC website will continue to operate. We will also be publishing the entire contents of IWC Issue 177 on Vinous in the near future, including Josh on Santa Barbara and Champagne and Ian on Tuscany. There are bound to be some hiccups during this time of transition, so we ask for your patience. Be sure to consult this FAQ, where we will post updates.

In closing, I believe we now have one of the best and most experienced teams of wine critics in the business. I have never been more excited about Vinous than I am today. Please join me in welcoming Steve, Josh, Ian and Joel to Vinous.


Antonio

Just awesome!!!

Wow indeed!

NICE

Suck it Wine Advocate.

Wow, most definitely will be renewing my Vinous account now. Glad to see Josh will still be covering the central coast. This is a huge value add to vinous, the only major loss I see here is Steve’s thoughts on Napa new releases.

Good for Antonio. And Steve and co.

It’s my understanding that he’s only doing this to curb score inflation.

I am so very happy for Antonio, Steve and their respective teams. They each have a strong track record of willingness to partner as well as a lot of humility. And they each are so very focused on wine consumers. I am happy to have partnered with each separately, and I am even more happy to see this come together.

Simply put, congrats!

Yes! Nicely played Antonio and congrats to all.

Interesting news. This certainly changes the position of Vinous among the wine review publications. Kudos to AG for this impressive step.

Absolutely thrilled to see this news cross the wire. I have enjoyed my first year with Vinous, and probably would have renewed…but this makes it a no-brainer (well, unless they raise the price to something ridiculous, but even then, I’d consider it).

Not sure about Ian D’Agata as I don’t have much exposure to his writing. Big concerns about his coverage of Tuscany. But many on here seem to think highly of his writing, so we shall see. I hope this is good move for wine and everyone involved.

Wow!

Too bad I have to hate critics. I do, don’t I?

Tanzer is only committing to three more years:
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither is the IWC team. I will be joining Vinous as Editor-in-Chief and will continue to taste and report on wines full-time for at least the next three years.”

Something for everyone. It gives the anti critics more targets in one central location.

My 14 year (then 15) subscription to IWC will expire in August. I am unlikely to subscribe to Vinous.

Good luck to all involved. Seemed like good timing with the overseas takeover of the Advocate.

I probably wasn’t going to subscribe to both and my longstanding IWC subscription is expiring in Jan…hadn’t really decided which way to go but was leaning toward Vinous…so this works pretty well for me.

I wonder if that means my IWC subscription will provide Vinous access?

I’m intrigued by this, but for some reason am surprised that AG acquired IWC. I would’ve thought IWC has more subscribers due to being around longer, but I guess I’m wrong. I am curious to see what happens with my IWC subscription, which expires in February. I will strongly consider subscribing to the new Vinous site, as I had thought about it anyway in the past. It’ll depend on the cost, though.