Online Wine Rating/Review Websites

What do you guys think is the best bang for the buck out there for the various online wine subscription services? Wine Spectator, Robert Parker, AG’s Vinous, Stephen Tanzer, James Suckling, Pinot Report, etc.

There are so many to choose from.

Some are mostly just rating/reviews, while others have lots of other content and are mobile device friendly.

Is there a consensus one or two that are well worth the subscription?

‘Bang for the buck’: Use CellarTracker and wine boards as a guide and trust your own palate.

If you must pay someone, I would try to get an idea of which pro critic your palate agrees with first. They all have region and style preferences, the key is to know how their preferences align with yours.

If you must, Tanzer. Broadest, most reliable coverage. Raynolds is guilty of the same score inflation that plagues WA, Galloni and Suckling. If you have Tanzer on Burgundy, you do not need Burghound, as their scores are rarely more than a point apart, and identical most of the time.

agreed but I’m not sure Raynolds upscores wines like WA and Suckling-maybe a point or two more than Tanzer. Suckling seems to use a 6 point scoring system-95-100.

I really enjoy Antonio Galloni, I would say his is the best out there right now. I also enjoy Josh Raynolds’ reviews on Tanzer. It all depends on your personal palate though. You have to find a reviewer you feel is reliable for you.

If I only review tasting notes to get a sense of the drinking window, and I don’t want to see the scores, does AG’s website have enough other content to still merit a subscription? I generally appreciate his work.

This.

If I was ITB there could possibly be a reason for me to subscribe to one or more of the major critics websites. Otherwise, I really don’t pay allot of attention to what they have to say. I would rather read tasting notes on CT and Wine Berserkers. You gotta weed out some the BS sometimes but I enjoy it. I listen to and appreciate what fellow wine drinkers in general have to say about a wine than what someone whose ethics might be/probably are compromised from years of being paid for points.

Hmmm, hard to say. What other content were you looking for? I feel the big reason I subscribe is for the tasting notes and drinking windows. But I’ve discovered lots of wineries by reading Galloni as well so for me it’s worth it.

Definetely Robert Parker. Everybody here loves him

you have to see who correlates best to your palate; that is why answers vary.

And it will depend on what regions are most important to you.

I’m not sure, which is why I haven’t subscribed. I like AG’s general vintage reports, news coming out of Italy, tales of lesser known winemakers, etc… I couldn’t care less about learning that one bottle is rated 91 and purportedly has a chlorophyll essence or that another is a 98 with a triumphant sense of purpose—all nonsense in my mind.

I provide a page in the back of my publication listing independent critics, what they charge, region covered and how to reach them. Also include a list of online journal writers I like to read. The reason I do it is so that my subscribers can see the list and make an informed choice of what they want to read.

I’ve found that the quality of the reviews on CellarTracker tend to vary with the quality of the wine. If you’re looking at Parkerized wine, the reviews will reflect Parkerized tastes and, conversely, the higher end burg reviews are typically exceptional.

What are thoughts on Jancis Robinson 'a site?