I was reading in Decanter this week a story about Jean Charles Boisset, and the story referred to Wine Enthusiast. I like many enjoy a number of excellent publications focused on wine, but must admit, I never even think about WE.

Am I out of step here?

I got a few free issues but would never pay for it. They overscore virtually everything. If I were in a wine store and considered buying a wine that WE had scored, it'd have to be at least a 95.

I don't really think about them much either. That being said, I don't think they way off base on some of their recommendations, but they can overscore some wines. I have bought some wines based on their reviews and have been relatively pleased. I don't know if it is one person or if the regions are broken up among different tasters.

Fwiw, my first subscription to a wine publication was Wine Enthusiast. I concur with Board-O that they score many wines too high - as I learned myself through trial and error.

I don't believe that their content is useless, but the advertising dominates a bit much for me, and there are many wines which are noticeably absent in their reviews; whereas there is an over-abundance of the same names(Williams Selyem, for expample).

I dont ever read it because I cant get past their mailer that sells all the over priced junk. I dont think they have any credibilty.

W.E. do tend to overrate trivial wines, most noticeable in Californian wines, rated by Steve Heimoff. Same for bordeaux wine. But I find W.E. quite conservative on Tuscan and South American wines.

They have a few people who are pretty good. Joe Cz does a nice job with the Rhone and Michael Shachner does a pretty good job with Spain. I don't buy any wine based on scores, so I don't really know if they're over or under rating, but I suspect the pressure would be on the upside rather than the downside.

I just cant expain it but I just dont read them for professional evaluation. I like some of the articles but if I want a wine opinion I usually try Winespectator, wineadvocate, or cellartracker.

The only impression I have of Wine Enthusiast is from exposure to their scores on retailer sites. I have noticed their high scores and have come to this possibly false conclusion. In a way it reminds me of Decanter and the 5 star system they use. When I first started reading Decanter I was a little surprised to see what wines received 5 stars. I remember Clerc Milon with several 1st and other classified growths being 5 star material. Avilla Syrah (that I thought sucked)having 5 stars and being among other pricier, respected, sought after bottles of Syrah. In a way it seemed to make really great wine/top scoring wine seem less rare than the elusive 100 pointer in WS or WA. Even though they use a 20 point system (5 star wines have different point values) and attach it to the star it just seemed more relaxed and like wine is just wine. I just see Wine Enthusiast as being more relaxed with their scoring and using the scale a lot less conservatively. Maybe more like Wilfred Wong than Decanter. I read somewhere that his scores were written for casual wine lovers. If you have a cellar full of first growths, expensive Burgundy, $200 a bottle Cote Rotie and have had moving emotional experiences from wine than that type of wine critic or salesman is not going to do it for you. For tons of people it probably makes perfect sense. I stopped reading wine magazines a while back and doubt I would subscribe to one again. If I saw an issue of Wine Enthusiast on the newsstand before a flight or if it had a feature on something I was interested in I would check it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
I got a few free issues but would never pay for it. They overscore virtually everything.

Ditto.

I think they award high scores intentionally. That way, stores post their shelf-talkers and people learn of their magazine by reading them.

I never really got into their "style" I guess. I typically stick to WS and Decanter only...

I got it for a while, but frankly, it is even more overblown than most. Too much non-wine content, highly suspect tasting notes. I often mistake the whole thing for an advertising supplement (in fact, I thought it was some wart on my WS subscription before I recognized it as some other publication. I still don't know why I got it for several months, I never subscribed to my knowledge).

I do like the catalog or retail catalog they send. I have bought a few things from them over the years that are kinda fun. Nothing major, but I do enjoy flipping through there during a ball game or somesuch.