What publication is best nowadays?

WINE TALK
41

Haha, Howard, you are doing what the poster above says happens, mistaking Monica for LPB. LPB is the black forest cake fanatic! And she’s gone, yay! :wink:

42

I have never read a tasting note from either, even though I subscribe now to the WA (solely for William). I know that LPB is the black forest cake fanatic from posts on this board. I am trying to learn if Monica Larner is also.

43

Charles, if you are mostly focusing on Bordeaux, I would add a thumbs-up for TWA since William has taken over that region. I will not be totally sure until he starts publishing notes, but I strongly suspect his taste in Bordeaux is more classical than spoofy. I don’t expect to read about Black Forest Cake! I’m not sure if that makes him “in agreement with the masses” or not, but I get the feeling that the masses are moving in that direction anyway. There are other Bordeaux specialist sites but with William on board, TWA is looking much more attractive than before.

Neal Martin and Antonio Galloni do a good double act at Vinous, but since you write that you need help on futures, you need to be aware that Vinous gives advance looks at futures notes and scores to those who pay the premium subscription (or whatever it’s called now), thus potentially depriving of you of the “drop” you would be paying for. Also, the advance info will inevitably mean higher EP prices for the well-noted wines.

So if EP is one of your interests, TWA is a much better bet than Vinous.

44

Not to quibble, but only 27 of those have been to current release wines - which obviously represent the vast majority of what I taste. The other ten have been things like 1999 Coche Corton-Charlemagne and 1919 Clos des Lambrays. Not that the numbers as they were made me look like the candyman, but…

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45

It wasn’t my intention to discredit you in any way, I’m not one of those who believe that there is no perfect wine. I just naughtly used you (as highly regard critic on this board) to make a point (that Monica unfairly gets that reputation, which is true as you can see in the posts replying to my post). One could say I made you take one for your team. :slight_smile:

Tasting DRCs, Leroys, Coches a gogo, doing verticals, tasting through many fantastic old wines and all the best and most exclusive Champagnes, I would hope to get to 40 perfect wines in 11k wines tasted (I’m myself am at 5 in roughly 2k reviews but without any Leroys in the lineup which make up a big chunck of your perfect scores). I and - you certainly know - nobody here or in the wine world does see you as candyman handing out scores too easy. I find them quite accurate and reliable. And we all very well understand that it’s more difficult to find a perfect wine in Sicily or Campania than in Burgundy.

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46

This is an odd part of the hobby, for me, almost undecipherable.

If I visit my in-laws, I will check out WS to see what might be in the market, etc. but using a publication to rate something regarding how desirable I should think a wine is is anethema, to me.

Aren’t we ruggedly individual epicurean explorers? Why would people line up to buy what they are told?

[stirthepothal.gif]

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47

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48

Oh, no offense taken, I assure you! And thanks for the kind words. I agree that Monica is quite a conservative scorer. Pre-pandemic we used to taste together and discuss such matters, something that we’ll hopefully be able to do again this year… One of her recent Soldera reviews recounts what happened when we all tasted that wine as a team.

Speaking personally, if I do score conservatively, I think it’s partly because I cover such exciting regions. I need to have enough room to maneuver at the top of the scale to distinguish between the wines you think about all week after tasting them, and the wines you think about all year, if I can put it like that. From a pragmatic perspective, I also think there’s a lot to be said for giving out sufficiently few that they retain some meaning for consumers and producers—something that, in turn, avoids devaluing the currency of the scores that are not 100/100.

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49

What can we buy that we are not told?

50

None. When I am looking at buying a wine the shop has all the ratings anyway. I always look at Cellar Tracker anyway on a wine I have not tried.

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51

Or for you just go to the tasting rooms in Washington and Oregon!

52

I think the publication that is “best” depends upon what you are looking for from the publication. Are you looking for a broad review of lots of wines, wineries, regions and the like in order to help get up to speed as to what is currently available in the (retail/direct sale) market? Are you looking for information about regions, winemaking, history, etc? Are you looking to ID high scoring wines as investments and/or to go trophy hunting? Do you want to live the wine lifestyle?

If the latter, then Wine Spectator is for you!

If the first, I would subscribe widely for a year or two. When I was beginning what I will grandly call my “intro to wine” years, I read/subscribe to several publication. As I developed a good sense of what I like - grapes, regions, producers, styles, etc. - I stopped subscribing to just about everything. Early on, the publications really helped expose me to wines, producers, regions, etc. I was not familiar with. I learned about wines, regions, wineries, etc. that I was not familiar with and so on. I’d go out and buy something that pricked my interest. And then drink and either buy again or not.

If the second (i.e., deeper dives), I would recommend books. They won’t help with current vintages but you learn so much more about regions than from subscription publications. For example, I was gifted “Champagne” by Peter Liem a couple of years ago and I learned so much about Champagne from it; it helped me understand the region, its history, differences in sub-regions, winemaking differences and traditions, etc. There are a variety of other great books about other regions and grapes of course (searching the board will reveal many or you can always start a new thread asking for recommendations).

If the third, I think WA and, to a lesser extent and only for Burgundy, Burghound are still the main scores that move the needle when it comes to sales and auction. But I admit I am less familiar with what does move the needle here so others likely have better recommendations.

Finally, I really like the suggestion made earlier to buy a couple of bottles, drink them, and then see the collected notes on the K&L website in order to figure out who tends to like the same things you do.

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53

I recently subscribed to JaneAnson.com; her Bordeaux-focused site launched late last year. I always enjoyed her writings for Decanter, and absolutely love her books on Bordeaux. As a new site it’s still a bit low on content and tasting notes, but she is pretty active in posting new articles and tastings. 2019 in bottle reviews are hitting next week.

For established Bordeaux reviewers, I lean pretty heavily on Neal Martin at Vinous, and to a lesser extent Antonio. Really looking forward to William’s Bordeaux reviews on robertparker.com; I wasn’t a big fan of LPB’s notes, but now I’m glad I didn’t cancel my subscription!

54

Great capsule of a good approach.

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55

I trust Gary V…

56

How many glasses of wine have you had already? It is 6:30 Seattle time! neener

57

I liked Gary V. He never seen to take himself too seriously.

58

Shops not the same without him doing those videos. Hard to put together a case from Wine Library.

59

I subscribe to John Gilman and Jane Anson; I did briefly to Vinous which runs out in a month. By far my favorite publication is World of Fine Wine, an incredibly expensive book published seasonally in the UK. It does have reviews, but also differs from anything else in the wine writing world by publishing articles on the whys of wine rather than whats, how much or how good a wine is.

I just received the latest issue and there is a meditation by Andrew Jefford on a half bottle of Chateau Meyney 1983. It is a thoughtful and great piece that begins with, “What turns the wine world? Is it wine, or is it the meaning that wine can bring to our lives?” Or the moving tribute to Becky Wasserman.

I think I should mention two caveats. I did an article in the very dim, distant past for them about a vertical of Magdelaine after it had been absorbed into Belair Monange. Also I am English, and the magazine seems to have a very English signature.

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60

I think there are some very interesting wines on the left bank in 2002. That year features a very dry, classical, elegant style of Cabernet that while it lacks some fruit depth and length is very transparent and subtle in a way that is hard to replicate in other years.

2002 is a good demonstration that almost every year, including “off vintages”, offers some unique character