Do you still read Wine Spectator?

WINE TALK
21

I haven’t read it in years (other than in some random pile of magazines in some waiting room)

22

I get it because it’s “free” from some purchase or another that offers magazine subscriptions. Every time they send me a bill after the free period, I find another free period so I re-up.

It’s as valid as most of the posts here IMO. Sometimes more so because I know a few of those guys and they do taste a lot of wine over the year, and at this point I’m familiar with them so their opinions matter rather more than some random voice of a person who tastes a few wines a month.

Doesn’t mean I buy any wine based on their, or anyone else’s score or recommendation. And a lot of the articles are fluff pieces and lifestyle pieces that I really don’t care for, but occasionally there’s an interesting overview or summary. Is it important in my life? No. But it’s not offensive either and as long as it doesn’t cost me out of pocket, I’m ok with it.

23

No, but as Tom said, they claim to taste everything blind, and I have no reason not to believe them. I am not sure if this is true of any other U. S. based wine publication, certainly not Burghound, for example, whom I also now do not subscribe to, not because his reviews aren’t interesting and valuable, but because they make me want to buy too much wine!

24

I subscribe but rarely read the magazine.

Usually give it away.

25

I still pick up about 3 copies a year for the coffee table. The March issue covers Oregon and Bordeaux, and they do “package” the latter reasonably well. The Piedmont and the Red Burgundy issues are more of a habit. The rest of the year, I pass.

26

This is me too. I have a big stack of them backed up; any time I go on a trip/vacation and need something to read, I grab one.

27

I get it free with airline miles so I have been reading it for years. I like the overviews of wine regions. We’ve used the articles as starting points to research vacations to CDP, Douro and a few others.
I don’t really pay too much attention to the wine ratings.

28

Yes, but for entirely different reasons and interest since subscribing in the early 90s.

29

I am pretty sure that a few years ago, Laube did an article on why he doesn’t taste blind. I am a bit hazy on it, so could be wrong.

30

I subscribe to and read the digital version of it. Without shame. They have good articles and they have fluff articles.

As far as if it is “required” reading, I would say not. But it is a good source if information if you are learning or otherwise enjoy wine-related content. Certainly they will have a level of access that may not be as easy for other sources to attain, although other publications (WE, Decanter, etc) will.

31

Probably not quite that long ago for me, maybe 20, but similar. The real issue for me back then was it changed to more of a lifestyle magazine, and I was more interested in learning about wines that winery owners and their lovely stone fireplaces and helicopter pads. Not sure if it’s returned to focus on wines, but haven’t bothered to look.

I considered an online subscription to, yes, look at ratings, at least as a screening mechanism. But realized I was overwhelmed by the number of wines reviewed, and figuring out which ones actually were available in stores near me. Easier to shop at stores I like, look for shelftalkers or just go based on other information to point me in the right direction.

32

I still get it. More of a lifestyle magazine now. Learn a few interesting things for travel ideas.

33

According to their website, WS has always tasted their wines blind, including Laube.

I get the magazine for free and will peruse it. I think James Molesworth has a good palate but not sure about the others. Mostly a lifestyle mag which I have no problem with.

34

I think this is the article I was thinking about - by Steve Heimoff

http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2009/12/15/blind-tasting-at-wine-spectator-again-an-issue/

35

I get it, flip through it and read some of the articles. It is definitely not “required reading” but it is a good casual read.

36

+1

When I first got into the retail business (1997), I was an information sponge. An older wine shop patron would bring new & old WS issues for me to peruse.

Wine Spectator used to feature articles on topics like “The ABC’s of Wine”, “All About Burgundy/Rhône/Spain”, etc. Then it seemed like the magazine ran out of things to say - for the most part.

With respect to the content commonly found in the magazine today, I feel like TomHill pretty much hit the nail on the head.*


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  • Mr Tim Fish’s work with Zins and domestic red blends was (in my opinion) better than the majority of the publication’s reporting.
37

I’m not seeing anything conclusive in that story, nor did I when the statistical piece first came out. There is a universal tendency to conflate association with causation. Do high-performing wineries with high scoring wines tend to buy larger ads based on past scores or to tout those scores? Are they more likely to garner higher scores in the future, not necessarily because of the ad (if you believe the firewall exists), but because the techniques they used to get good scores in the past are likely to result in good scores in the future? There is no way to parse this from scores and ad size and frequency alone. A lot more data (no doubt proprietary WS data) would be needed to do an analysis that might lead to valid conclusions. I personally believe that WS tastes blind and that advertising revenue has no influence on their ratings. Maybe I’m a rube. But it hardly matters since I don’t pay attention to their scores anyway.

38

I find it to be an enjoyable Sunday afternoon read with a glass of wine and some of the feature stories can be interesting such as the recent Thomas Rivers Brown article. [cheers.gif]

39

No. For at least 20 years.

40

Used to, starting out it had merits and in an early Internet era it was something I can take and read anywhere at my pace. I got more educated and liked alternative sources. Technology caught up and put WS and many others at your fingertips. I think they out-priced themselves online and too many cost effective offerings emerged. Like this place for example.