How Would You Score That Magazine?

My recent rant about a column in the Wine Spectator drew all sorts of responses from readers. As one regular put it, "even more than when you bash Biodynamics!" My point wasn't to sucker-punch a glossy publication, merely to correct what I saw as an egregiously hypocritical description of the wine blogging world. But as long as we're on the topic of the glossy wine magazines, I thought I might point my readers to a fun little article by fellow wine writer W.R. Tish, who recently decided that he needed to use the 100-point rating system on the major wine magazines and see how they came out in a "comparative tasting," so to speak.

In this article Tish provides some choice "tasting notes" on each of the publications, as well as some specifics about their reach and power in the wine world, including their advertising rates (which tend to blow my mind). It's a fun article that's a follow up to his previously penned exposé of the tasting methodologies and politics of the same magazines.

Check it out.

Posted by: Alder on September 23, 2006 11:19 PM: Filed under: Ramblings and Rants; Like this post? Share it! Digg it! - Add to del.icio.us - Add to Stumbleupon - Add to Reddit

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Comments (3)

Eric Lecours wrote:

09.24.06 at 12:59 AM

Regarding your previous rant, Kramer was discrediting blogs in the classic way. Say something positive and follow with a "but...", which is the real point.

The reality is that there are some serious wine writers being developed on the internet. Further, these writers are, for the most part, honest and not tainted by advertising revenues or dinners at Michael Mina. This must be a scary thing for some.

Marcus wrote:

09.24.06 at 2:04 PM

Eric,

I think you are right about the wealth of wine writers on the Internet being a force.

I'm all for that as well as for lessening the need for points and rankings in wine reviews. I find that they are mostly nonsense and these glossy mags overdo it to sell copies. Food matches when reviewing wine, on the other hand, could be more emphasized instead.

My motto when profiling a bottle is don't number-crunch, munch instead.

St.Vini wrote:

09.26.06 at 3:11 PM

"Food matches when reviewing wine, on the other hand, could be more emphasized instead."

Really? I think that's something that's even MORE subjective than scores and notes.

I think I sense a post coming on....