Expressing support for WA on this board is akin to an American colonist cheering on George III following the Declaration of Independence.
Since AG took over the reins of California reporting, I’ve subscribed to WA and post on eBob. I believe that WA is part of the wine Zeitgeist. It is one way I keep up with the greater wine world.
Oddly enough, I subscribed to the site this week. Wanted to read Galloni on California, and looking forward to reading David S. on Washington and Oregon. I enjoyed the Sonoma coverage.
No, I only subscribe to Tanzer. Most of the time I wonder why I subcribe to anything more then Winersearcher Pro where I find a lot of tasting notes on producers I buy anyhow.
I’ve kept my subscription just to read Neal Martin’s writing. Now that he is focused on regions I don’t buy instead of Burgundy and Bordeaux I am not sure how much utility the subscription will have for me going forward.
I stopped subscribing about 10 years ago, after 20 years, because I didn’t find RP’s reviews and scores had much correlation to my palate anymore. In the 80s and early 90s I found them quite close.
I just keep doing what I did in school: think for myself and do my own homework.
The less snarky answer is that WB is my de facto WA. I have learned much more useful information on this board than I ever did from years of WS and eBob.
Neal has picked up Spain and I think all of South America for WA. I don’t focus on any of those places, so I fear my favorite wine writer will stop writing on regions that interest me. The freedom he had with Wine Journal to cover anything of interest was the only reason I kept up my WA subscription because my palate in no way matches RP. Wine Journal still exists, but his large commitment to WA is going to cut into his time to focus on it. I hope he continues to keep up his Burgundy writing, but fear that will fade. Neal’s palate always seemed to be more in line with those of us who read here, so I hate to lose the resource Wine Journal was for me.
I think Lisa is doing Australia/NZ. I like what I have seen of her writing, but my lack of focus on Australia keeps me from knowing too much about her.
I let my subscription lapse on March 1, after 30 years, because Parker has become an insufferable, abusive prick whom I no longer wish to support. We had a cordial mail then internet correspondence for most of that time, until I questioned the Miller/Campo bullshit last summer. His replies on his bulletin board became increasingly delusional and defamatory. And I find his wine preferences to be increasingly irrelevant to what I currently purchase and drink. So, I’m done.
Ended my print subscription about ten years ago. Ended my subscription to Wine Spectator (if am recalling correctly) a couple years before that, right after they anointed Domaine de Baumard Quarts de Chaume their white wine of the year. It was my favorite white wine on the planet, easy to find and not that expensive, then poof, it was gone locally. I was sick of the pretentiousness anyway.
Never subscribed to eBob, so my time over there ended when the wall was erected.
I will admit to paying some attention to the WA Bordeaux and Rhone ratings, though less these days as I am not really buying futures anymore (other than a couple of odds and ends).
The Squirrel had threatened to ban me, scolding when I lampooned BoBo for very the Sierra CarCrash fiasco which BoBo had blindly sponsored and condoned.
I do not worry when intellectual/ethical ants scurry in anger.