10 February 2008 by Sandy Hemphill
Good to the Last Drop - of Information!: A Compendium of Blogs on Wine
Whether you are a newcomer to the world of wine or have enjoyed it for years, one point about it that almost everyone will agree with is that the more you know, the more you want to know.
Wine is just such a fascinating subject from so many aspects – cuisine, viticulture, tasting, history, travel, entertainment, and on and on and on! - there is bound to be some avenue of further exploration to suit almost every interest.
In an effort to keep your education ongoing, the following list of websites and publications will take you to newsletters, blogs, magazines, and books that will provide a continuous source of wine-related information to whet your appetite for exploration throughout the entire new year.
These sites were selected for timeliness and information. Some of them provide links to products for sale (usually information) but none of them is a direct link to a particular winery or pinpointed to a specific geographic region. There is a mixture of humor and seriousness (but not much!) as well as discussion of wines that cover all points of the pricing scale.
An effort was made to ensure that all sites had a post as recently as December 2007. There are quite literally thousands of wine-related websites but some of them haven’t been updated for years so they were not included.
Of course, wine has been making the news for a few thousand years now so even words written a few years ago are still pretty relevant. You’ll no doubt stumble across them yourself and can decide how useful or timely they are to you.
Consider signing up to receive newsletters. Enroll in a free issue or two of some of the magazines. Put your email address on the blog feeds of the writers who interest you. Bookmark the websites that offer the information you’ll want to return to again and again.
At www.nataliemaclean.com and www.natdecants.com, you’ll meet the delightful Natalie MacLean, a winner of multiple awards for her words on wine. I’ve recently been blessed with a copy of Natalie’s book, Red, White, and Drunk All Over / A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass, published in 2006. I haven’t finished reading it yet so cannot offer a decent review but I can say this - with every page I’ve found myself literally laughing out loud and thinking how nice it would be to have this charming lady as my friend. The tales she shares in her book allow you to experience wineries on a personal level that most others miss entirely. It’s no wonder she’s so highly acclaimed.
You can find even more of Natalie at www.epicurious.com, one of my favorite websites. It’s the online presence of Bon Apetit and Gourmet magazines. Natalie’s blogs on beverages entertain and educate more than 5,000,000 readers each month. Stop in a time or two and you’ll probably see why millions of wine lovers visit often.
Another name ubiquitous within the world of wine is Robert Parker, whose opinions have long been considered the final word on wine. He is famous for his publication, The Wine Advocate, and the rating system he devised. You’ll find him at http://dat.erobertparker.com/entrance.asp. You’ll also find newsletters from several other writers, and a database comprised of more than "100,000 wine tasting notes" collected over the years.
Want to be the first in line for the hottest new wine releases? Go to www.winerelease.com to find a list of release dates for more than 1,200 wineries in Canada and US. A monthly newsletter is available so you can stay updated all year long.
WineBlueBook.com is a "wine buying guide that groups the major critics’ average wine ratings, then lists them by price to determine overall value – the Quality Price Ratio for wine." A 12-month newsletter subscription, available via email, can be purchased for $25 and you can request a free edition to explore before purchasing.
Blog – “By the Glass” provides a wealth of information and commentary about all things wine at http://discover.winecountry.com/wine (or www.WineCountry.com). Wine news from California, Oregon, and Virginia are featured but we all enjoy wine from those regions so much of the news is relevant to wine lovers everywhere.
Blog – “Drink the Good Stuff!” (http://drinkthegoodstuff.blogspot.com/) is a sidesplitting blog written by Vino Girl and Winemonkey. Lots of fun stuff here that takes all the snooty stuffiness out of wine and puts the fun back in the bottle. It’s not all fun and games, though. These writers are serious about wine and provide some very useful information. They just do so in a highly entertaining style.
Blog - "the frugal oenophile’s wine of the week" (http://tfo-wow.blogspot.com) features a different wine each week selected because it brings a big "bang for the buck," usually under $12 per bottle. News you can use.
Wine Enthusiast magazine has been around for a long time and does indeed offer information that makes readers everywhere enthusiastic and eager for more. Subscriptions bring 14 issues per year right to your doorstep at $29.95 for delivery in the USA and $49.95 for Canadian subscribers.
Find the online Wine Enthusiast’s blog – “unreserved” by Jim Gordon at http://blog.winemag.com.
Wine Spectator magazine is another well-respected source of wine information, reviews, and news. Fourteen issues can be purchased for $49.95.
After just one year frequenting these websites and reading these publications, even a neophyte wine connoisseur can become a well-versed oenophile by this time next year. Happy learning!