The WineSpectator.com: One Decade
The Wine Spectator is celebrating its 10th year in the on-line business. Wow…10 years. I recall when the Spectator first went on-line. It was fairly early in the whole process and it seems a long time back.
There were a few wine sites on the web back in ’96, just not that many good ones. And there were not many winery web site. The emergence of winespectator.com gave promise to potential of wine on the web.
In early 1997 the Wine Spectator Homepage looked like this:
A decade later it looks like this.
It’s difficult to tell exactly what changes have occurred. But of course many have. So, if you want to check out the WineSpectator.com they are offering a free trial for the next week. Even if you are into wine ratings the Ratings Search feature is well worth your time to sign up.
Oh, for godsakes, Wine Spectator is the least relevent publication for info on quality wine. They’ve long ago sold their soul to Parker. Well, let me rephrase, what the Spectator suggests I avoid. A free trial of their .com might help other wine enthusiast steer clear of their recommendations.
Ken:
In another post last week I made the point that anyone who utilizes reviews or reviewers to screen the 1000s of wines out there should find 2 or three reviewers at most whose tastes calibrate with their own palate. Clearly one of your choices won’t be the The Wine Spectator.
That said, the folks at WS taste thousands of wines per year. I’ve not met anyone there that doesn’t understand wine and how it’s made. I disagree with some of their reivewers while others I find spot on.
It’s kind of hard to write off any entire crew of wine reviewers for everyone.
Tom:
Of course, you are right. It was a silly thing of me to say. Keep up the good work.