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Sunday, May 26, 2013

So you want to be a wine connoisseur? - Here are a dozen top online fee-based wine journals

Reading about wine from the pros can be a pricey proposition. If you are in the trade or a serious amateur/collector, here are a dozen online publication options (in English). If you subscribe to all of them they will cost you a little more than $1,000.00 a year, no paltry sum. But then again that’s less than the going price for a bottle of 2010 Chateau Margaux. And when you drink it, it’s gone.

Would I spend over $1,000.00 a year for all of these publications? I don’t have time to read them all, so I probably wouldn’t. But $1,000.00 a year is a pretty small price to pay for some of the best and brightest in the wine world. And if you’re new to the sport, it would be a pretty inexpensive. A season ski pass to Chamonix will set one back $1,500.00 or so.

Why pay when there is all this free information on the internet and the blogs? Indeed. I’d say the reason to do so would be to have recognized sources of information on some highly selected subjects (Champagne, Burgundy, natural wines, etc.).

The dirty dozen listed with yearly subscription fees, from the most expensive to the least:
(after the break)



$145.00 Burghound
$143.90 James Suckling
$120.00 Antonio Galloni
$105.00 Jancis Robinson (£69)
$ 99.00 Robert Parker
$ 95.00 Stephen Tanzer
$ 90.00 Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wine
$ 90.00 Peter Liem's Champagne Guide (€70)
$ 65.00 Alice Feiring
$ 49.95 Wine Spectator
$ 29.00 Sommelier Journal
$ 12.99 Wine Enthusiast

Lew's Lagniappe: For you insider baseball types there are several subscription sites around, but the Mother of All Industry sites is Lew Purdue's Wine Executive News - $13.99 a month or $167.88 yearly. Lew knows where all the bodies are buried and his traffic is massive.It's truly a portal, not just a regurgitation of things found elsewhere. I don't know how he has time to scan all the sites he does, in fact, I think he's looking for some help.

What did I miss? One of your favorites? Let us know. Remember, it's online, subscription based (not free) wine journals we're talking about here.

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