I too am a fan of Jane Anson’s new venture, which is going to become a very useful source of information about Bordeaux. I’m glad I signed up.
I would also recommend Chris Kissack, but more for Loire wines than for Bordeaux, simply because there isn’t really anybody else covering the Loire so well. I think it’s great that TWA and Vinous are doing so too but Chris’s coverage is a lot more extensive and I like his new website a lot. His subscription is also a lot cheaper than the others’.
One which is seldom mentioned is Decanter. I subscribe from time to time, but with Jane Anson’s departure, and now James Lawther’s (although he was more freelance), Decanter has lost its Bordeaux reviewers and importantly, two who were actually based in Bordeaux, so I will not be going back for now.
I think it also demonstrates the fact that “lesser years” sometimes need time, too. There can be a reflect to drink lesser vintages young and age the most acclaimed years, but one would have gotten much more gratification drinking 2000s young than 2002s.
For Rhone there is no one better than John Livingstone-Learmonth (https://drinkrhone.com) who is incredibly knowledgeable. At £25 a year its probably the most affordable subscription out there as well. The only downside is that he only does Rhone so its not a ‘all-round’ subscription.
Honestly, I find that this forum is as good or better than any publication. Not only do the knowledgeable users synthesize and digest the prominent publications, but I feel like I’m getting recommendations from people more aligned with my tastes (once you understand how different users’ tastes are aligned).
The publications are just a whole lot of wines tasted and rated. I don’t need 5000 recommendations. Just a few good ones.
Since I am a one trick pony and only interested in Burgundy and to a lesser degree Bordeaux I think WA and Vinous- in spite of excellent writers W Kelley and N Martin- are far too comprehensive. If more Burgundy was discussed there (in the way CLIVE COATES did it) I would certainly subscribe to both of them. As it is Winehog and Burghound are the ones for me.
Surely not Wine Enthusiast. I have notice a James Suckling approach on some their scores lately. Trying to stay in the game I guess.
Diora “La Splendueur Du Soleil” Chardonnay 2019
$11 from a local shop and 93 WE. Looked at reviews on tracker for their wines as they had a pinot on there too and terrible reviews.
You always say this, but I think you simply don’t know how to use the websites’ search functions. I won’t speak about our coverage at WA, because it isn’t necessary, but Neal over at Vinous just published over two thousand 2020 Burgundy reviews. I doubt Coates’ The Vine ever published 2,000 reviews on one vintage. Personally, I think that, if anything, we review too many wines. But the fact that both sites publish reviews of other regions, written by other authors, hardly means we neglect Burgundy.
I don’t think that one really needs any professional wine reviews these days. Cellartracker and the boards have changed the game. I feel like William Kelley is a fantastic wine writer, possibly the best in the world, but in making a purchase I would almost certainly give more creedence to written reviews by half a dozen ordinary Cellartracker drinkers than I would to a brief review and score he did out of barrel or something. The CT reviewers know much less about wine than he does. But he is one palate and they are multiple ones, they are drinking it in exactly the context I drink it (a bottle at home over an evening), while William is drinking it in a radically different context, and they have no relationship to the producer to pay attention to (not questioning William’s integrity one bit here, but wine writers have practical access needs).
In that context, I also feel like it’s a bit of a waste of time that the market forces someone like William to write up a zillion unavoidably look-alike brief wine reviews in mass tasting contexts, as opposed to doing the more in-depth analysis and essays that he is so good at.
My Vinous subscription expires in a week and I don’t plan to renew.
For fans of Champagne, anyone use Peter Liem’s website? Thoughts?
I subscribe to VFTC, but might consider Jane Anson for Bordeaux since Gilman hasn’t been covering that region on release in awhile and my palate leans classical.
I have seen a bunch of references here and elsewhere on this board to Jane Anson. But, I do not know anything about her. What is her background? What regions does she cover or not cover -what are her specialties? What is her palate like? Does Jay Hack subscribe to her newsletter ( a big red flag).
She used to write for Decanter before starting her own publication. Has lived in Bordeaux since 2003 and published Inside Bordeaux and other books. I first learned about her from her interviews on the IDTT and Vint podcasts. A couple friends who are really into Bordeaux are going on her small group guided tour in the region this June.
Not sure if her website covers other regions much if at all.