Just about through with Wine Spectator

[Innkeeper]

The current edition (Dec 15) reminded me why I dislike it more than I like it. First Matt Kramer riled against Michelin for their "correctness", especially when evaluating restaurants outside of France as in Italy or San Francisco.

However, the cover story was about CA Pinot. After reading it through including the Alphabetical Guide in the back, I was struck with their "correctness." It comes down to this: If your Pinot tastes like Syrah, it gets a high score. If your Pinot tastes like Pinot, it gets a low score.

Maybe you can find some exceptions, but this was definitely the norm or correctness.

[Bucko]

Wrote them off a long time ago. They tend to dismiss "proper" wines -- they want the full-blown versions.

[TheEngineer]

I've been lurking in their forums and it is interesting the number of people on their forums who have the same views...and then there are those that have significant investments in the wines loved by WS. There are many people who waited until (must have been) 10:01 am (when they released their #1 wine) and then called their wines stores. (reason for another post of mine). This is the first year I got the mag and the website. I may not continue. I keep wishing A. Meadows site and Jancis Robinson's sites were a bit less money. I guess you get what you pay for. Happy reading wineanorak.com for now.

[Glass_A_Day]

If I have to read either by way of a subscription or in forums, I really prefer Parker. Forums are much more sophisticated and his ratings are much more in line with mine. WS on a whole is much more of a point chaser enviornment. I used to subscribe to both WS online and mag. THe online came up and I passed. Just tonight I was reading the mag and am really tempted to cancel the remainder of my script. More of the same from the last few years. It just seems there is always one little bit of useful info I get that keeps me from canceling.

[wondersofwine]

I no longer have the magazine subscription to Wine Spectator but do receive "Wine Enthusiast." I was getting "Food and Wine" for awhile but not enough wine coverage to satisfy me. I would say that Tanzer (International Wine Cellar) and Allen Meadows/Burghound are more in line with my palate than other critics. But, alas, I'm too cheap to subscribe to Burghound online.

[winoweenie]

Haven't subscribed since the year of the black snow.WW [img]http://216.81.73.162/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

[jv38]

I've been a subscriber for the last year and a half. I think their wine coverage is some times hit or miss...

I take most of the articles and ratings most as personal opinions than expert advise...

Also, I like the pictures... [img]http://wines.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[stevebody]

I recently dropped them here at the shop. I brought in ten copies an issue and always wound up with at least seven left. None of my customers ever said they follow their reviews and most openly scoffed at the "secret" connections between WS, Stimson lane, and American Tobacco. I once got a "May Be Actionable" note from Thomas Matthews for relating in one of their forums what most wine people here in Seattle say about WS: that WS reviews are for sale and that their consistent praise for Chateau Ste. Michelle is because they're both owned by American Tobacco. I never bought that idea but it's made the rounds for years, here. I told Matthews that he could shoot the messenger if he wanted to but that wasn't likely to change the fact that it's said. He eventually dropped it.

They just seem like what Dan Jenkins, in his novel "Semi-Tough", once called Sports Illustrated: "a slick cookbook for the two-yacht set".