Reviews

This is the most comphrehensive list of tasting links of the web

Notes and links copyrighted 2004 by Unknowntaster.com. All rights reserved.

Reviews of wine websites containing tasting notes Tasting Notes:

European Grand Jury -- Here's the site nobody wants you to find. I've never seen a link to it. One of the most interesting wine tasting groups in the world and one of the most objective.This is how you find true sleepers. It will be discussed further in my Chronicle. It began as a foil to counter the influence of individual wine tasting "pros." It does massive blind tastings much like a competition event with top-notch judges. While it has not accomplished its lofty goals, it sure helps the smart money folks like you. The current site, unfortunately, seems to be missing a lot of the older tasting notes that are quite valuable. Website tries to be too fancy. My real complaint, though, is that this group does not meet often enough.B+

Wine Mega -- This is the French site that does a statistical analysis of multiple wine reviews and comes up with a median score and standard deviation. It's sheer genius and a wonderful place to find sleepers and spot the over-rated or controversial wine. Unfortunately the site has deterriorated since its inception. Now it's more difficult to navigate. The javascript is a mess and amateurish. The content is spotty. You can no longer read many of the controversial reviews to find out who is screwing up the standard deviation like you used to. This should be an A+ site and it's not.It's still important though. B

Fine Wine Dairy -- Fug-ugly site also known as Baily's Fine Wine Dairy. From England. No focus but lots of mostly accurate notes. Links to various UK merchants. C

Bordeaux-News.Com -- A site worth an occassional visit. Inside you find a slew of tasting notes for scattered Bordeaux wines with no apparent theme. Slick but weird. Fair source of Bdx news too. B-

The Complete Wine Geek -- This is a site run by two obvious wine nuts. Lots of tasting notes here and possibly a good source of offbeat discoveries. Definitely check out the miscellaneous cab tastings. B

Alcohol Reviews -- This is a no nonsense out-and-out review site out of Washington, DC. Not enough about Bordeaux, but enough interesting ratings overall to be well worth reading once every few months. B

Concours Général Agricole -- Here is the French site that lists all the awards for agriculture, including wine, given by one of the top French judging bodies. A miderable disorganized site going every which way. There are lots of cow pictures! You have to fish around to find the ever-moving wine links. Good luck. C-

Wine Notes -- British palate-meister Ken Inglis lists endless professional and amateur events with plenty of excellent notes. Unfortunately as he laments in this blog-based website, he got lax and that cost hime a better grade. It is definitely a must read although I wish he'd do more Bordeaux. B-

Food and WIne.net -- Here is a pretentious site out of Ireland with oddly pontifical articles with a writing voice that reverberates in your brain as Sideshow Mel of the Simpsons. A kind of haute theater actor gone amok. The site itself is just dreadful with its use of frames and HTML from 1993. Yet there is information to be had. D-

Wine Guru -- This site is a mess. Looks as if it hasn't been updated for two years. F

Yak Shaya's Wine Pages -- The personal results of amateur wine nut Yak Shaya. Needs updating. Essentially tasting notes on 1000 wines drunk between 1995 and 2004. A few years ago he gave 1969 Chateaux Margaux 18/20! This is perhaps one of the ugliest sites ever devised, but a genuine curiosoty worth a visit. C-

West Coast Wine -- A labor of love that is begging for help, literally. This site just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. D+

All About Wine -- Offbeat wine news, good links. Not much in the way of tasting notes hence no score. NR

WARPA! -- The name of this site stands for "War Against Parker!" It's an ambitious Pinky and the Brain scheme to take over the world. The idea here is to create a critical mass of user contributed tasting notes; put them in a database, and Parker be damned. It seems to be slowly evolving into a wine society network. I applaud these folks for trying to do the right thing, but this is simply doomed to fail for reasons too numerous to cite here. E for effort. But the results are no better than C+

Reviews

Additional reviews to be posted next week

Link site sponsored by: Take that trip to Bordeaux! Or anywhere else for that matter.

Wine Zines

Wine and Dine -- For my money one of the best zines on the net but in desparate need of a copy editor with typos and usages that need to get fixed fast. This publication is old school in attitude and perspective. Very trustworthy and often contrarian. Despite the typos it still gets a top score. A

The WIne Lovers Page -- This is one of the finest web sites you can find on the web for anything. We're lucky it's about wine. That said it is quite cluttered and needs a re-org. Done by Robin Garr, this site now incorporates content from the steady Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine, an excellent source of reviews. A-

The Wine Doctor -- Another UK site/zine that, unfortunately, does not focus on Bordeaux but instead goes for the current trend in British taste: cheap crap. That said, it's understandable after you read the excellent skeptical lament about 2003 Bordeaux. Outstanding commentary. B+

The Wine Republic -- An excellent wine zine from Martin Moran (MW) out of Ireland. Lots of accurate reviews done from a professional perspective. The site itself loses points for its miserable and constant use of yellow on white and for not keeping its database of links stable. I lost the link to the Bordeaux 2000 notes. Why were they moved? Are hard disks too expensive? This site would merit an A with some work. B.

Tony Aspler.com -- A Canadian site not well known to the American audience. This site exemplifies a well-done wine zine. With original articles modest tasting and insight. It's both attractive and interesting. A

WOW -- Wine on the Web. This is the wine zine of brit Andrew Jones, a professional wine commentator. Kind of a marginal site with little focus. The use of stock animated gifs, just for the sake of it, makes the site look more amateurish than it actually is. UK readers might be interested in the sites canonical list of UK wine clubs. B-

Wine Anorek -- Claims to be the most comphrehensive wine site on the web. It's not. Essentially another wine nut but this bloke does go to enough press tastings to make the magazine interesting. Alas, again here we have a Brit who eschews Bordeaux for taste after taste of the world's plonk. C+

Mark Squires -- This is one of the longest running ezines on wine and has tons of tasting notes. Unfortunately the notes are all over the map to the point of being almost useless. Also the site is very unaesthetic resembling a typical "crackpot" site where people ramble on about space aliens. Squires started the bulletin board conference system that was merged into Robert Parkers and is now one of the best two on the Internet. C

Wine-Lines -- An ambitious wine site by taster Richard Ross. Using the 100-point methodology this is a good source of second opinions. You should note that in all his tastings he has only tasted three 100 point wines (by his standards). This included a 1989 Romanee-Conti. So he sets the bar nice and high. Unfortunately, as slick as this site appears, it seems to be a hobby site on a slow server. It also needs to be updated more routinely. B-

Andy's Scribblings -- Out of hte UK, another plonk-oriented zine. Has a certain inexplicable charm and polish. Does provide some third-party opinions. B-

The WIneman.com -- Here is a small indie zine with lots of original material. Too much talk and not enough tasting notes though. Could use a major redesign too. C+

The Wine Guide -- This site is about as pointless as any. I have no idea what they are up to. There are some seemingly wish-washy reviews of undistinguished California wine and links to this and that. Baffling. D

Onestbien.com -- A slick French-European wine zine with lots of interviews and notes. B

Purple Feet -- Obscure. Actually a decent but only occasional wine zine. If they kept it more timely it would rate a higher grade. C

Best of Wine -- A top German wine zine. Good reviews, excelent commentary. Most people will have to run it through a translation system to read it. B+

Global Gourmet -- Perhaps this belongs in another category, since it's mostly a food zine with a wine columnist here. The wine column should focus on better wine. Does anyone really need to review the Ballentine Chenin Blanc? I mean, unless it somehow comes with gratuitous sex, who cares? The Global Gourmet site itself seems to mostly promote cookbooks. It needs a redesign. C-

WIne-Pages.com -- Probably a good site if you live in the UK since it maintains a cool list of public tastings. Otherwise it seems to be yet another me-too plonk-oriented site. Has potential. B-

Vino! -- This zine should be so much better. It's slick but shallow. There is no compelling reason to read it. The reviews are plentiful but vague (thus useless) as if the reviewer doesn't want to offend anyone. D

Wine-People -- If you like chit-chat about California wine, this is a site for you. In need of a redeisgn, but fun to read. Smart Bordeaux drinkers will roll their eyes at some of this stuff. Lots of matter-of-fact gushing over trendy overpriced Cal cabs such as Colgin. B

Wine Clubs and Miscellaneous

The Royal Cliff Wine Club -- This looks to be the wine SIG of an exclusive club in Thailand. In fact it turns out to be a pretty good zine too. B+

Tasters Guild of NYC -- Pretty much the club newsletter with some tasting notes of worth. Probably a good club to be in, if you're stuck in Manhattan. What's particularly valuable is a BYOB list of NYC restaurants. C

Bacchus -- the Oxford University Wine Society website. Proof that college students shouldn't be drinking. NP\Not Pass.

Professional Friends of Wine -- This is a California-oriented wine tasting society featuring mostly "who cares?" reviews of cheap crap. One month was dedicated to "Bargain Barbecue Reds." I assume aspirin was given away at that tasting. C-

This is the most comphrehensive list of tasting links of the web		Notes and links copyrighted 2004 by Unknowntaster.com. All rights reserved.
	Reviews of wine websites containing tasting notes Tasting Notes:
	European Grand Jury -- Here's the site nobody wants you to find. I've never seen a link to it. One of the most interesting wine tasting groups in the world and one of the most objective.This is how you find true sleepers. It will be discussed further in my Chronicle. It began as a foil to counter the influence of individual wine tasting "pros." It does massive blind tastings much like a competition event with top-notch judges. While it has not accomplished its lofty goals, it sure helps the smart money folks like you. The current site, unfortunately, seems to be missing a lot of the older tasting notes that are quite valuable. Website tries to be too fancy. My real complaint, though, is that this group does not meet often enough.B+ Wine Mega -- This is the French site that does a statistical analysis of multiple wine reviews and comes up with a median score and standard deviation. It's sheer genius and a wonderful place to find sleepers and spot the over-rated or controversial wine. Unfortunately the site has deterriorated since its inception. Now it's more difficult to navigate. The javascript is a mess and amateurish. The content is spotty. You can no longer read many of the controversial reviews to find out who is screwing up the standard deviation like you used to. This should be an A+ site and it's not.It's still important though. B Fine Wine Dairy -- Fug-ugly site also known as Baily's Fine Wine Dairy. From England. No focus but lots of mostly accurate notes. Links to various UK merchants. C Bordeaux-News.Com -- A site worth an occassional visit. Inside you find a slew of tasting notes for scattered Bordeaux wines with no apparent theme. Slick but weird. Fair source of Bdx news too. B- The Complete Wine Geek -- This is a site run by two obvious wine nuts. Lots of tasting notes here and possibly a good source of offbeat discoveries. Definitely check out the miscellaneous cab tastings. B Alcohol Reviews -- This is a no nonsense out-and-out review site out of Washington, DC. Not enough about Bordeaux, but enough interesting ratings overall to be well worth reading once every few months. B Concours Général Agricole -- Here is the French site that lists all the awards for agriculture, including wine, given by one of the top French judging bodies. A miderable disorganized site going every which way. There are lots of cow pictures! You have to fish around to find the ever-moving wine links. Good luck. C- Wine Notes -- British palate-meister Ken Inglis lists endless professional and amateur events with plenty of excellent notes. Unfortunately as he laments in this blog-based website, he got lax and that cost hime a better grade. It is definitely a must read although I wish he'd do more Bordeaux. B- Food and WIne.net -- Here is a pretentious site out of Ireland with oddly pontifical articles with a writing voice that reverberates in your brain as Sideshow Mel of the Simpsons. A kind of haute theater actor gone amok. The site itself is just dreadful with its use of frames and HTML from 1993. Yet there is information to be had. D- Wine Guru -- This site is a mess. Looks as if it hasn't been updated for two years. F Yak Shaya's Wine Pages -- The personal results of amateur wine nut Yak Shaya. Needs updating. Essentially tasting notes on 1000 wines drunk between 1995 and 2004. A few years ago he gave 1969 Chateaux Margaux 18/20! This is perhaps one of the ugliest sites ever devised, but a genuine curiosoty worth a visit. C- West Coast Wine -- A labor of love that is begging for help, literally. This site just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. D+ All About Wine -- Offbeat wine news, good links. Not much in the way of tasting notes hence no score. NR WARPA! -- The name of this site stands for "War Against Parker!" It's an ambitious Pinky and the Brain scheme to take over the world. The idea here is to create a critical mass of user contributed tasting notes; put them in a database, and Parker be damned. It seems to be slowly evolving into a wine society network. I applaud these folks for trying to do the right thing, but this is simply doomed to fail for reasons too numerous to cite here. E for effort. But the results are no better than C+	Reviews Additional reviews to be posted next week Link site sponsored by: Take that trip to Bordeaux! Or anywhere else for that matter.

	Wine Zines Wine and Dine -- For my money one of the best zines on the net but in desparate need of a copy editor with typos and usages that need to get fixed fast. This publication is old school in attitude and perspective. Very trustworthy and often contrarian. Despite the typos it still gets a top score. A The WIne Lovers Page -- This is one of the finest web sites you can find on the web for anything. We're lucky it's about wine. That said it is quite cluttered and needs a re-org. Done by Robin Garr, this site now incorporates content from the steady Connoisseurs Guide to California Wine, an excellent source of reviews. A- The Wine Doctor -- Another UK site/zine that, unfortunately, does not focus on Bordeaux but instead goes for the current trend in British taste: cheap crap. That said, it's understandable after you read the excellent skeptical lament about 2003 Bordeaux. Outstanding commentary. B+ The Wine Republic -- An excellent wine zine from Martin Moran (MW) out of Ireland. Lots of accurate reviews done from a professional perspective. The site itself loses points for its miserable and constant use of yellow on white and for not keeping its database of links stable. I lost the link to the Bordeaux 2000 notes. Why were they moved? Are hard disks too expensive? This site would merit an A with some work. B. Tony Aspler.com -- A Canadian site not well known to the American audience. This site exemplifies a well-done wine zine. With original articles modest tasting and insight. It's both attractive and interesting. A WOW -- Wine on the Web. This is the wine zine of brit Andrew Jones, a professional wine commentator. Kind of a marginal site with little focus. The use of stock animated gifs, just for the sake of it, makes the site look more amateurish than it actually is. UK readers might be interested in the sites canonical list of UK wine clubs. B- Wine Anorek -- Claims to be the most comphrehensive wine site on the web. It's not. Essentially another wine nut but this bloke does go to enough press tastings to make the magazine interesting. Alas, again here we have a Brit who eschews Bordeaux for taste after taste of the world's plonk. C+ Mark Squires -- This is one of the longest running ezines on wine and has tons of tasting notes. Unfortunately the notes are all over the map to the point of being almost useless. Also the site is very unaesthetic resembling a typical "crackpot" site where people ramble on about space aliens. Squires started the bulletin board conference system that was merged into Robert Parkers and is now one of the best two on the Internet. C Wine-Lines -- An ambitious wine site by taster Richard Ross. Using the 100-point methodology this is a good source of second opinions. You should note that in all his tastings he has only tasted three 100 point wines (by his standards). This included a 1989 Romanee-Conti. So he sets the bar nice and high. Unfortunately, as slick as this site appears, it seems to be a hobby site on a slow server. It also needs to be updated more routinely. B- Andy's Scribblings -- Out of hte UK, another plonk-oriented zine. Has a certain inexplicable charm and polish. Does provide some third-party opinions. B- The WIneman.com -- Here is a small indie zine with lots of original material. Too much talk and not enough tasting notes though. Could use a major redesign too. C+ The Wine Guide -- This site is about as pointless as any. I have no idea what they are up to. There are some seemingly wish-washy reviews of undistinguished California wine and links to this and that. Baffling. D Onestbien.com -- A slick French-European wine zine with lots of interviews and notes. B Purple Feet -- Obscure. Actually a decent but only occasional wine zine. If they kept it more timely it would rate a higher grade. C Best of Wine -- A top German wine zine. Good reviews, excelent commentary. Most people will have to run it through a translation system to read it. B+ Global Gourmet -- Perhaps this belongs in another category, since it's mostly a food zine with a wine columnist here. The wine column should focus on better wine. Does anyone really need to review the Ballentine Chenin Blanc? I mean, unless it somehow comes with gratuitous sex, who cares? The Global Gourmet site itself seems to mostly promote cookbooks. It needs a redesign. C- WIne-Pages.com -- Probably a good site if you live in the UK since it maintains a cool list of public tastings. Otherwise it seems to be yet another me-too plonk-oriented site. Has potential. B- Vino! -- This zine should be so much better. It's slick but shallow. There is no compelling reason to read it. The reviews are plentiful but vague (thus useless) as if the reviewer doesn't want to offend anyone. D Wine-People -- If you like chit-chat about California wine, this is a site for you. In need of a redeisgn, but fun to read. Smart Bordeaux drinkers will roll their eyes at some of this stuff. Lots of matter-of-fact gushing over trendy overpriced Cal cabs such as Colgin. B
	Wine Clubs and Miscellaneous The Royal Cliff Wine Club -- This looks to be the wine SIG of an exclusive club in Thailand. In fact it turns out to be a pretty good zine too. B+ Tasters Guild of NYC -- Pretty much the club newsletter with some tasting notes of worth. Probably a good club to be in, if you're stuck in Manhattan. What's particularly valuable is a BYOB list of NYC restaurants. C Bacchus -- the Oxford University Wine Society website. Proof that college students shouldn't be drinking. NP\Not Pass. Professional Friends of Wine -- This is a California-oriented wine tasting society featuring mostly "who cares?" reviews of cheap crap. One month was dedicated to "Bargain Barbecue Reds." I assume aspirin was given away at that tasting. C-