Wine Spectator - how to submit wines for review?

Anyone care to share?

I am releasing my first wines in a month or so and I’d love to see how they do.

I assume it is just a matter of sending them some wine and some kind of form (or perhaps just a letter).

Any help anyone can provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Andrew Weber
Weber Wine Company

Andrew,

Assuming it’s a CA wine, it’s fairly simple to submit. (Though they don’t guarantee that they will taste the wine or even if they do that they will publish a review.) The only feedback you will get is if/when they publish if you or a customer notices.

Anyway, there is a simple form that you submit with two bottles of the wine to be reviewed. You can include additional printed materials if you would like such as a bio of your winery. They accept wine all year round but do have deadlines for certain feature issues (Value issue, Pinot Noir focus, Cab focus, etc.)

I typically just drop off the wine at their office in Napa but you could ship there too. I’m not at the right computer right now but shoot me an email at rsloan at matchvineyards dot com. I believe I have a copy of the form.

If you buy advertising they review your wine.

Good luck! If it’s not full-throttle pinot, then I wish you double good luck!!!

ninja edit - Pinots usually need to be submitted by late spring (may/june?) to make the big pinot issue.

I have two wines to submit, both from “westside” Paso Robles vineyards. So yeah, they are pretty big wines relatively speaking.

Loring just got a WS93 for his 07 rendition of one of these vineyard’s fruit (Russell Family) and I am VERY happy with my 07 Russell and my 07 Orchid Hill Vineyard, which sits just a mile west from the Russell Family Vineyard. I am definitely eager to see how they are reviewed!

With those two vineyards, they cannot fail to impress. But just so you know, they are pretty haphazard about reviewing new brands and small productions because they claim it frustrates their readers when it turns out they can’t get the wine. Their lead time for publication is 4-6 months, so it’s important to have a release date for the wine that is in the future.

Ha Ha…is your Pinot viscious and syrupy? Then you have a shot. Good luck!

Not that they ever would check, but I thought they at least said that the wine had to be currently in release.

+1 to this…especially about reviewing small production stuff…they want stuff that can be available

If you contact the magazine, they’ll send you a package with all the details
Enthusiast is pretty much the same

Good Luck!

Is WE the mag that solicits a fee from winery of reviewed wines (if they want the label reproduced)

Does WS do that?

Yes, WE and WS both charge a fee for reproducing the label. I know … it looks to the reader as if the editors are highlighting their favorites. They are not. That’s a sold placement.

Randy, the editors do indeed want wines “currently” available, but for small productions the closer you can time availability to the date the issue ships is better. Certainly they won’t keep reviewing a winery if they get complaints that the wine sold out weeks/months in advance of the issue.

WS never hit me up for advertising, to sell shelf talkers, reprint labels, whatever, but the highest score I ever got was a 92 so maybe they ask the high, high scorers. WE hits you up no matter what the score. With them, placement is for sale but scores probably are not.

Andrew…it was pretty straightforward for yours truly. I contacted the WS offices in Napa. They in turn sent me the information and protocols (I seem to recall it being emailed). You will complete the forms and send them the wine. That was the easy part.

Good luck with the outcome, my friend, and just be certain that your wine is ready to be released and submitted for review.

WE does. But WS doesn’t. We just got our head’s up reviews from WE… along with the option to pay $900-ish per review to include a label. We’ve never been asked by WS, but Andrew Vingiello just got asked for a label image - which they included in the magazine for no charge.

If Andrew just got asked for an image for WS, that means he scored very well…94+ points. Very good news for AP Vin…and Andrew of course

It’s in the current issue - 94 points for his 2007 Garys’.

Yee haw for AP Vin…great news.

Come on Andrew … you are going to send some to WS without even sharing with your homies in the EWG