Finally Just Cut the Cord with Wine Spectator!!!

[A_K_a_I_l]

@John W Osgood

I subscribe using my frequent flyer miles, a tremendous bargain compared to the cash subscription price. I too like the photos and articles for light reading.

I use my kids miles for stuff like this - they never come close to accumulating enough miles for tickets

[Ted_Erfer]

I can’t live without the annual restaurant issue. It really helps to know which restaurants have good wine lists:)

[Alan_Eden]

The magazine is good bathroom reading

[GregT]

It’s no better or worse than any other wine-related magazine as far as I’m concerned. Lots of lifestyle stuff and pictures of people and their cellars and how much they love wine, and sometimes some pretty good reports on various regions, sometimes some fair to middling reports.

I’ve had dinner with a few of the writers, some of whom are pretty good tasters and some less so. In that, WS is like any other journal, online or print. WA has a group of writers, Tanzer or now Vinous does, WE does, Decanter does, etc. Some of those people have been covering regions for a long time and they may have something interesting to say; others have just shown up recently and I have very little interest in reading about their quest for knowledge.

The magazine has to support itself and i guess they do pretty well - they’ve cloned the formula for a few other magazines. I’ve been a subscriber off and on for years and years and like others, don’t mind using some credit card miles, although I haven’t really had to for a long time - it comes free on random occasions when I buy something online. So I don’t mind having it around.

As far as their forum being full of nasty people, some of those people are also right here on this forum!

[Dan_Hammer]

@AndrewH

@John W Osgood

I subscribe using my frequent flyer miles, a tremendous bargain compared to the cash subscription price. I too like the photos and articles for light reading.

Interesting point . . . Delta asks 900 miles for a 1 year subscription. People value miles differently, but at most common valuations that’s well below the $50 for the subscription.

I’ve never paid cash for WS. If you value your miles at 2 cents per, then 900 miles = $18.
900 miles for a $50 magazine = 5 cents per mile (rounding). Years ago, when airlines offered a sign up bonus, I know people that created shall we say fake accounts, just to use those bonus miles for various magazines and newspapers.
I haven’t ‘renewed’ WS in over a year.

[TomHill]

@Alan Rath

I contemplate it ever year or so, but always end up re-upping, particularly after my subscription has lapsed, and they send me more enticing offers. I still enjoy the “glossy” aspects of the magazine, the combination of travel and wine, and learn something from most of the editions. You can be a serious wine geek, and still enjoy Spectator, IMO. Just don’t take the scores too seriously

I’ve…errrrr…uhhhhhhh…mmmmmm…followed the WS from the very start, back when it was a tabloid newspaper published by BobMorrisey out of
SanDiego. Have a complete collection of the rag. Heck…I even wrote a few articles for it way back in those days. That I was once a writer for WS is not something
of which I’m particularly proud.

They start dinging me to re-up about 6 months afore my subscription is about to expire. Then they start sweetening the deal as the deadline approaches & I don’t respond.
But then when they finally send the 3’rd or 4’th “final offer” and include the pre-stamped envelope to respond, I steel myself w/ a few glasses of Port and sign-up again.
I feel so unclean again for another few months.

Actually, about every other issue they will have an article by one of the lesser-known staff that I find interesting & informative and that actually displays a bit of investigative
work. It just doesn’t carry the by-line of Laube/Molesworth/Suckling/Steiman/Kramer or such.

But I find the WS of most value when it comes time to expand my fleet of private jets. I then immediately reach for the WS and buy the first jet I see advertised. Works for me.

Tom

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

My mother just cut my cord! Now I can put on some pants and leave her basement!

(There must be a few Squires board veterans around here who will see the humor in that…)

[Sean_Malloy]

@A K a I l

@John W Osgood

I subscribe using my frequent flyer miles, a tremendous bargain compared to the cash subscription price. I too like the photos and articles for light reading.

I use my kids miles for stuff like this - they never come close to accumulating enough miles for tickets

Really good idea. For WS or anything else that’s a small ticket item. Need to look into this.

[P_WythesJr]

It’s a guilty pleasure for me - I know there are better sources of wine info, but I can’t seem to avert my eyes.

One thing I wish they would stop doing is publishing the cover story profiling some ‘wine luminary’. I really don’t need to read a retrospective of someone’s life and how they helped define the wine world as we know it today.

[AndrewH]

@TomHill

But I find the WS of most value when it comes time to expand my fleet of private jets. I then immediately reach for the WS and buy the first jet I see advertised. Works for me.

Tom

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@Chris Seiber

It’s good bathroom / time killer reading. My mother in law renews my subscription every year, so there’s no downside to me. I actually think some of the newer critics for Europe are doing a pretty good job, though like most of us WB types, I only very rarely consider the reviews for buying decisions anymore.

For some years, I had the online subscription too, but that became superfluous with the ability to look things up on CT and elsewhere, and I found I wasn’t using it at all, so I got rid of it and haven’t missed it.

I save money by not subscribing and reading the posts of a short list of regular posters here for bathroom/time-killing reading. A few (who shall remain nameless) do not merely kill time, they WASTE it! I mean, they terminate it with extreme prejudice!

[AKuehn]

I don’t understand the “guilty pleasure” line. I like parts of WS, I read those parts, ignore what I don’t like or have time for, and I find the subscription price brings me enough pleasure to justify the expense. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t get it. And yes, I find the reviews useful, as well. One cannot have too many data points when purchasing an unfamiliar wine.

The one thing I don’t particularly like about WS, as has been mentioned upthread, is that I do find it to be occasionally dripping with pretension.

But the photography is usually very good, the articles are cursory but reasonably well-written, and the content is interesting enough to fill those times when, for example, I’m waiting for my kids to finish getting ready to get in the car for the dentist/practice/game/rehearsal/concert/whatever, and to fill any down time at said activity.

[p_raghib]

Interesting-I’ve been drinking wine for 20yrs and I just subscribed last year. I have to say that 2:3 issues I really enjoy some articles. I’ve never even glanced at how they rate wines, but in the past year they did a great story on Helen Turley, Manfred, scotch etc etc. That said, I just let my WA subscription lapse after 15yrs.

-paul

[Scott_Butler]

@Jim Brennan

I actually tended to enjoy the travel, food, and other aspects of the magazine long after it wasn’t really valuable to me from a wine perspective.

+1 That is why I still subscribe, I barely even read the ratings section.

[Scott_Brunson]

I cut the cord 7 or 8 years ago but I was only buying it for the pictures.
I was buying other magazines for the articles.

[Gary_Ahearn]

Dropped them 10-15 years ago after two years. Enjoyed some of the articles, but found many wine reviews unreliable (e.g. #15-100 of the WOTY.) Subscribed to the Wine Advocate for years, until AG and Schildknecht left. Enjoyed a long stint with IWC–until the recent merger. A short stint with Burghound until Burgs became too expensive to buy, i.e. after 2005. Now only Vinous.

[AlexO]

@P_WythesJr

It’s a guilty pleasure for me - I know there are better sources of wine info, but I can’t seem to avert my eyes.

One thing I wish they would stop doing is publishing the cover story profiling some ‘wine luminary’. I really don’t need to read a retrospective of someone’s life and how they helped define the wine world as we know it today.

+1

[Scott_Butler]

@AlexO

@P_WythesJr

It’s a guilty pleasure for me - I know there are better sources of wine info, but I can’t seem to avert my eyes.

One thing I wish they would stop doing is publishing the cover story profiling some ‘wine luminary’. I really don’t need to read a retrospective of someone’s life and how they helped define the wine world as we know it today.

+1

Interesting, that is one of my favorite things to read about.

[Chris_Tyler]

Congrats! It was also an entry level drug for me.

My favorite sources for reading now:

1. Forums - Really just WB for me. Use the search function - it’s the best way to learn about producers / regions. (Assuming your tastes skew toward the stuff that’s discussed here.)
2. Cellartracker - Become a fan of people whose tasting notes you like. Then look at the “I’m a fan of the taster” view. A great way to discover what like-minded people are drinking.
3. Retailer emails - you can learn a ton from retailers who take the time to write thoughtful emails promoting their wines. My favorites are Crush (crushwineco.com), Envoyer (envoyerfinewines.com), Flatiron (flatiron-wines.com), and Chambers St (chambersstwines.com)
4. Blogs - My favorites require an annual payment (thewinedoctor.com and champagneguide.net)

Good luck. There have never been more resources to quench the thirst for knowledge!