Why again do we follow wine ratings?

James Suckling recently wrote a blog about a tasting he attended in March ‘08. The idea behind the tasting was to compare a couple Cult wines from California to the top wines of Bordeaux, all from the 2003 vintage. The lineup of wines was more than amazing and in the end Suckling and most of the group had a tough time distinguishing French from California in the blind format.

The top two wines of the night were from the US: the Colgin 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard and a 2003 Harlan Estate Cabernet. Suckling wrote of the 2003 Colgin, “…five tasters gave it 100 points, including Gabriel. It was easily the most popular wine of the tasting.” His unofficial tasting note: Read more

The Wine Spectator - Reasons to join their forums

The Wine Spectator is one of the top wine magazines in the world and an excellent resource for wine news, vintage quality, new producers, wine travel and overall anything to do with wine. The articles by Matt Kramer are outstanding and I’m a big fan of James Suckling (although I don’t always agree with his tasting notes) as he reviews Bordeaux and all of Italy - two wine areas I love.

The printed magazine aside, their website is an excellent resource for wine ratings, expert blogs (Suckling is very active and always has great topics, Maynard from Tool has a blog about his wine pursuits) as well as restaurant reviews and travel resources. But these features are all “premium” requiring an online subscription. There is another part of the Wine Spectators website that is free which serves as an outstanidng food, wine and travel resource, and can lead to good online and offline friendships. It’s filled with a wide range of people from the articulate to the…well, not so articulate, the expert to the beginner. The area I’m talking about is the Wine Spectator Discussion Forums.
Read more