I depleted my wine collection in the late 00’ and recently have decided to start buying again. Back in the day, most serious wine collectors subscribed to the paper WINE ADVOCATE for their buying guidance. Later, if you were a real nerd you were part of his board… if you were the first to get the bordeaux issue, you got “the drop” on the wine world.
Now I see Jeb, Antonio, and others have jumped into the mix. Mostly, when I buy wine I go by CT but sometimes I need someone to help with futures or non-released bottles.
This leads me to my question- who is the voice of the industry now? Who has the best publication and palate (most in agreement to the masses)?
Second Gilman’s VFTC and my favorite, which I read cover to cover, is The World of Fine Wine. The app is great as well as it gives you access to all back vintages.
I have no idea who is most in agreement to the masses or who is the voice of the industry. I subscribe to the publications where the writers have palates more in line with the types of wine I like, not necessarily the types of wines others like. I subscribe to two wine newsletters.
I also love A View from the Cellar and have subscribed to it since issue one.
And, I now again (after many years’ absence) subscribe to the Wine Advocate because of one writer - William Kelley. He is really good. Search for his many posts on this board if you want to sample his writings.
It depends which region you are interested in. My opinion is -
Burgundy - I read Burghound, Vinous (Neal Martin), and William Kelley (WA). All are deep, consistent, and well written. They have different palates so worth trying each if you are really into Burgundy. I haven’t subscribed to Gilman so don’t have a POV on him.
Bordeaux - Vinous actually has two deep parallel reviews - Galloni and Martin. Compare and contrast are pretty interesting. William Kelley (WA) has just taken on Bordeaux going forward but we haven’t seen anything yet.
Germany (mostly Riesling) - Mosel Fine Wines is awesome and free.
Italy - I just read Vinous. Galloni is expert on Piedmont, and Eric Guido covers most of the rest of it. I don’t know of an English language source that goes as wide and deep on Italy as Vinous, nothing close.
Champagne - William Kelley (WA) and Galloni (Vinous) are both good. Champagne Warrior (Brad Baker) used to be a great source but hasn’t been publishing regularly the last few years. Perhaps that’s changed? Others can chime in.
California/Oregon - I’ve mostly read Vinous. Pretty darn good coverage of most of the regions in these markets.
Rhone, Loire, other parts of France - seems like WA and Vinous are the most common. I just read Vinous for these regions.
Btw the user boards (most notably this one) are extremely helpful sources of information. Not as deep as professional reviewers but there is a wide range of well informed voices. Vinous’ board is lower trafficked but very high quality, including a large contingent of Europeans that is a pleasure to hear from. WA doesn’t have a user BBS, so if you like these kinds of resources then that might give Vinous the edge.
I’m going to publish some notes on a selection of older wines this month, along with some words about what readers can expect in terms of Bordeaux coverage going forward. But obviously there’ll be 2021 EP, which is a bit later than usual this year. I’ll also be looking at 2019s in bottle, and looking back at 2012s and 2002s with ten and twenty years on the clock respectively. I’m planning lots of visits right now. It’s going to be a busy year for me!
