What content do you consume to learn about wine? How do you remain up-to-date on what is happening in the wine world? Do you frequently go over wine related materials to keep your mind sharp? Do you subscribe to wine related newsletters? Read magazines? I am curious what content WB’s consume.
I tend to read wine text books and sometimes watch youtube content. I also enjoy any wine related documentaries. The wine doc Sour Grapes is actually how I learned about WB. (I’ve been into wine for 10+ years and I really wish I knew about WB back then!)
Mixture of great reference works (Wine Atlas, Wine Grapes, etc.), books on niche topics (“Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla” by Peter Liem, “Greatest White Wine on Earth” by Stuart Pigott), and then a handful of mostly-online wine publications that are in my wheelhouse (Trink). I’ve found it is also a question of finding wine writers I really appreciate the insight of and keeping tabs on them (the aforementioned Stuart Pigott, who is one of the great Riesling writers on earth, but who currently is the German/Austrian reviewer for James Suckling).
Wine Conferences are also worth a shout-out, although making the time for them can seem daunting (I’m a winemaker, so it is just part of the job for me to attend).
I get most of my wine information from here which is the most concentrated source of up to date wine information that exists. I subscribe to a variety of different burgundy focused publications but mostly look at them infrequently if I want information about a specific wine, producer, or vineyard information.
Whatever random books or internet articles that happen to come by.
Wine Berserkers.
Friends and acquaintances at wine tastings.
Visiting wine regions (very occasionally).
That’s about it. I really don’t study wine or try to actively learn anything, I just live and breathe wine enough to learn all the stuff passively.
Best is wine groups/dinners/events with friends. Social, friendly, and fun.
Second best is attending formal tastings (ie. at stores or larger events like La Paulee). Sadly these are much diminished because of COVID but seem to be picking back up.
Wine Berserkers of course.
Other publications/review sites. I read Vinous, Burghound, Moselle Fine Wine (MFW), Trink, Wine Advocate (mostly just William Kennedy). Yes I let professionals influence me.
Cellar Tracker and Wine Searcher are great for individual wine research. www.terroirist.com for daily pointers to lots of other publications and articles (of course many of which are repetitive of other sources).
Visiting wine producers is really fun but I don’t get to do that nearly enough.
Tastings - Easy to do when you are a stones throw away from Wine Country.
Wine Berserkers - I learned about WB when I was looking for wineries to visit in Amador County several years ago.
CellarTracker
YouTube - Although I am finding most content to be rather meh recently.
Podcasts
Buying cheap older vintages of wine on WineBid
Tastings, tastings, and recommendations from trusted owner/staff at great bottle shops. That said, our last bottle shop in Corvallis Ore. closed last year! Super bummed
Then, Podcasts; WB; CellarTracker, random books. Some ‘zines/review sites but I find myself checking these less and less…
I approach it like looking for peyote buttons: I roam around randomly, following the wine Tao and try to soak up the information as it presents itself to me.
Podcasts:
“I’ll drink to that” has some awesome interviews with top producers around the world, and a deep back catalog of episodes
“Wine for normal people” is a great intro, but also goes really deep into regions and grapes and I enjoy Elizabeth’s focus on smaller, high quality producers. Also a deep catalog going back to 2011.
YouTube:
Konstantin Baum produces some awesome content on a whole variety of topics, and is just an all around likable guy
AttorneySomm has what I can only describe as a dry delivery, but his insights and wisdom are always spot on. Great way to get familiar with top producers around the globe
Andre Mack’s videos for Bon Apetit are also quite good, and he’s got a great style to him
WineKing was great early on…just a group of knowledge guys doing some awesome tastings and talking about the wines (with awful production quality, but that wasn’t really the point). The channel sort of lost its way becoming more of a travel vlog over the last year, and I lost interest.
Books:
“The Wine Bible” enjoyable and useful
“The world atlas of wine” is a classic
“Wine folly” good intro for most people
“Wine for normal people” also a good intro for most people
“Adventures on the wine trail” Kermit’s timeless book is perhaps even more relevant today than when he wrote it
Forums/communities
Right here on Wineberserkers of course!
Reddit r/wine
CellarTracker
Publications
Vinuous has some good stuff, but it’s not cheap
Wine Spectator puts out some good content on occasion, but often feels like it’s just a glam piece for rich people without taste
Jen dunnuck is a good independent reviewer, and I find my tastes tend to agree with his
James Suckling… don’t even get me started
Wine enthusiast… just skip it
Robert Parker… gets a lot of crap from people, but he’s not too far off the mark most of the time, it’s just that when he is…it feels WAYY off (thinking about that infamous Caymus 40th thread over here)
Others…
WineSearcher is an indispensable tool, and the articles can be really excellent (controversial too, which is rare in this hobby/business)
SommTV is a streaming service focused on wine. The catalog of content isn’t all that deep just yet, but I’ve enjoyed several shows on the service.
Started with wine publications then books which are helpful for deep dives, some sites like Vinous, Winehog Cellartacker, podcasts, visiting a region but most of all TASTING and WB. There is a tremendous amount of information here and it takes time to digest ALOT of it so little by little.
I recently purchased the 2nd edition of Inside Burgundy, and it has been indispensable in helping me decipher Burgundy. For one reason or another, all other attempts to explain what is going on in the Côte d’Or have left me increasingly confused. While there is a lot of information in the book that I don’t presently have a use for, such as historical wind patterns, I expect it to be a useful tool as I continue to learn about Burgundy.
Wine Folly is a “fun” wine book. Anything that Madeline Puckette (woman from the first two SOMM movies) does it pretty informative and keeps away from being snobby. She has great youtube content as well.