Wine Spectator

Wine—It's a Lifestyle You Know

If you don't have a lifestyle and are looking for one, you might try reading Wine Spectator. It's what the publishing trade terms a lifestyle magazine, a periodical that helps the lost and hopeless to create, organize, inspire, inform, and define an attitude about their style of life. Sometimes these magazines help and sometimes they misdirect. In this particular case, the lifestyle experts at Wine Spectator more often than not help and educate those masses of people who think of wine as part of their lifestyle, for some, the whole part. They do this 16 times a year at the subscription price of $49.95.

The Elephant in the Wine-Tasting Room

Wine Spectator is not the only magazine devoted to the elucidation of wine and published for the edification of those people wishing to imbibe the juicy fermented grape, but it is perhaps the most influential. There are other magazines, newsletters, and blogs that are available and valuable.

Love-Him-or-Hate-Him Robert Parker's Wine Advocate publication is sworn by and cursed at by many. The Wine Enthusiast draws kudos from countless devotees. Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar is read word for word for his knowledgeable and practical insight and blessings. Vinography is a blog turned crossroads for other wine blogs crisscrossing the great wide wonderful world of wine on the Internet. There's also the split personality magazine, Food and Wine, that is not for purists but for hedonists who can't make up their mind if chewing or sipping is more important.

But among these, Wine Spectator is the elephant in the tasting room. It's the one the wine trade doesn't like to talk about, or rather, the magazine that wineries fret and nervously rub their sweaty hands about. Why? Because it has become an iconoclastic magazine, newsletter, and website that influences consumers and the wine industry by its mere presence.

It's glossy, slick, loaded with nuggets of information, pearls of wine wisdom, and tidbits of industry news. Also, its editorial opinions are astute, valuable, generally on-target, and always carry weight, which it sometimes throws around. It can literally make or break a wine or winery with a review, gossip, or interview. Not always loved and a consistent target for criticism, Wine Spectator is highly successful, having the largest circulation in its category and it is considered the default publication regarding wine. It's not always loved and revered but it's always read, even by its critics.

Wine Spectator Staff

Marvin Shanken is the editor and publisher of Wine Spectator. He purchased the 12-page newsletter in 1979 and proceeded to turn it into a ubiquitous, prestigious brand and premier publication. There are probably a lot of reasons behind the magazine's success. The usual hard work, savvy management, and bit of luck are no doubt involved.

However, the key factors are probably the editorial staff, excellent writing, and balance of articles and reviews on wine, food-dining, travel, and interviews with industry leaders. Their editors travel to the far corners of the wine world to drink wine, visit wineries, chat up the winemakers and nègociants, chefs, hoteliers, restauranteurs, and, of course, taste wine, of which there is apparently a bounty of barrels out there to sample.

Some of the editors and contributing writers of note to read are James Laube, Harvey Steiman, James Suckling, Bruce Sanderson, and Matt Kramer. The publisher, Marvin Shanken, also has a handful of other lifestyle magazines in his portfolio, including Cigar Aficionado that is devoted to the fans of the smelly stogie.

The Buying Guide

This is Wine Spectator's raison-d'-être. Articles are fine, interviews can be compelling, dining reviews are appetizing, and wine tour information helpful, but the Buying Guide is the section that is the meat of the magazine. Here, in the back third of the magazine is where Bruce Sanderson, the other editors, and his tasting staff compile brief Tasting Reports on wine from regions around the world.

The reviews are from new wine releases and includes a synopsis of more in-depth reviews for special tastings included earlier in the issue. Tastings are all done blind by the editor or tasting staff, who have reviewed and graded the wine according to the WS rating system of 100 points. Each reviewer concentrates in specific wine regions, which helps them to become familiar with the wineries and wines of that region and helps build their expertise. Brevity is the operative word for the reviews and they are generally three to five terse lines that pass judgment of the wine. Also useful is the listing of the number of cases produced, which will give you an idea of the distribution volume and the prospect of finding a bottle in your local wineshop.

Tasting Selections

Wines, contrary to the self-evident perception of humanity indicated in the U.S.'s Declaration of Independence, are not created equal. Therein lies wine's appeal: diversity. Expensive wines can be swill and inexpensive wines can overachieve. Wine Spectator attempts to present a balanced framework for judging this diversity. The general categories are listed below:

• Highly Recommended

This category represents the Wine Spectator's staff's top-tiered choices. This doesn't always mean the most expensive, but high scores for wines are based on some weighted evaluations of score combined with price and availability. This means you may or may not find that $200 Napa Cab in the category but a $20 Alsatian Gewürtztraminer may be.

• Collectibles

Wines in this group will be deemed worthy for laying down to age. In other words, these wines may offer investment opportunities for wine collectors…or just a superlative wine to be enjoyed later if one has patience and fortitude.

• Smart Buys

These wines have notable redeeming character, are well-made, widely available, and more importantly, wines priced according to their worth.

• Best Values

One notch below a Smart Buy, a Best Value wine delivers an excellent price performance value, a decent wine at a good price.

New Wines From Around the World

The staff also compiles a substantial list of reviews of new wines in addition to the special categories. These are grouped by country and varietal.

Tasting Report

This last section is a report on a general assessment of a wine region followed by a list of various producers from that region and a report card on their respective new wine releases.

For your convenience, Wine Spectator also includes a foldable cutout guide of the best wines from the Buying Guide that you can put in your pocket and pull out as a reference on your wine-shopping spree. A thoughtful touch and great marketing device.

100-Point Rating Scale

The Wine Spectator's 100-Point Rating Scale ranks on par with SAT scores on the level of criticism and rancor by the general population. What does an 85 mean for a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir that costs $35? To me it means I don't buy that wine. However, an 85 for a Central Coast Pinot that costs only $12 will make me happy, but that's me. The numeric rating's purpose to is rate a wine on overall quality or its potential. These numbers equate to the following rankings according to WS:

• 95-100 Classic and an optimal wine
• 90-94 Outstanding, superior
• 85-89 Very good
• 80-84 Good, solid, well-made
• 75-79 Mediocre but drinkable
• 50-74 Don't even go there

As a general statement, wines in the 90 and above rankings will be more expensive, some astronomically expensive. Value wines are found in the 85-89 range but also in 80-84 number. The 75-79 wines are borderline and gets close to the drink if desperate category, but still have value. Any wines below that are not recommended and don't even consider the sub-70 ones for vinegar.

Detractors

Wine Spectator has its loyal followers and it has its critics. Its critics have weighed in with questions about the propriety of including advertisements for producers of wines reviewed in the publication. There is a Greek chorus of skepticism regarding the wine rating system, the criteria of the restaurant awards passed out by the magazine every year, its objectivity, its arrogance, and ultimately its bully pulpit influence. My opinion of the critics and WS—take everything with a grain of salt backed up by a big 91 Côtes-du-Rhône for $20.

Online Presence

Wine Spectator Online provides access to the publication's regular articles, wine ratings, and such but also more. There are wine forums, editor's blogs, breaking wine news, video interviews, wine education sections, dining, travel, marketplace classifieds and online shopping links, and of course advertisements. The big plus for the online version is access to the large searchable ratings database and archived articles and news. Limited access is free with expanded access on an annual subscription rate.