Anyone here subscribe to this magazine? If so what do you like/not like?

I was flipping through it at the news stand the other day and it seemed pretty interesting.

Glenn,

I don't subscribe, but I've picked up the last 3 quarterly issues off the stand.

It's okay, but not worth the price and it's definitely positioned towards the higher ends of society.

I haven't subscribed as yet, but my OCD condition that sees me having to subscribe to every wine publication on the planet is forcing me towards this ultimate end unfortunately.

My closing opinion is that most of the contributors also write for other publications, so really nothing new when all is said and done if you subscribe to the other rags.

I'd be curious to know what the newstand price is at your end of the world. Near Toronto, it's $45 Canadian per issue - Outrageous!

Cheers,

- Ian

quote:

Originally posted by IT:
Glenn,

I don't subscribe, but I've picked up the last 3 quarterly issues off the stand.

It's okay, but not worth the price and it's definitely positioned towards the higher ends of society.

I haven't subscribed as yet, but my OCD condition that sees me having to subscribe to every wine publication on the planet is forcing me towards this ultimate end unfortunately.

My closing opinion is that most of the contributors also write for other publications, so really nothing new when all is said and done if you subscribe to the other rags.

I'd be curious to know what the newstand price is at your end of the world. Near Toronto, it's $45 Canadian per issue - Outrageous!

Cheers,

- Ian

I like the way they rate every wine I own 5 points below the cellartracker average.

IT, sorry I didn’t see your response earlier. The annual 4 issue subscription here is about 80 GBP’s.

I ended up subscribing and have really enjoyed it. Each issue is like a mini book and is done really well. Great food and travel section as well.

I suscribe as well; there was a promotion last year where cellartracker users could subscribe at a pretty steep discount, so I think I'm paying around $25 CAD an issue.

I like the mag; to me it is a great counterpoint to the North American wine writers (I subscribe to WS, WA, and IWC), and in effect is what Decanter should be. The articles go into far more depth than any other publication I've found... I agree with GlennK that it's like a series of quarterly $25 books.

quote:

Originally posted by Machine:
I like the way they rate every wine I own 5 points below the cellartracker average my rating.

Hence they are on my Ignore list. Also surprised how often their three tasters are within 1 point of each other. Their notes on 03 St Pierre was when I finally had to put them on Ignore.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vinole,

This is in my opinion the best wine magazine, and by far, available here.
Quite diversified, many different critics, importers and scientist write and it is not a one man's voice.
Also, unlike WS and WA, you can actually read more than a page without seing 10 scores. It's more about wine than ratings, just the way it should be.
The tastings are usually done by 3 tasters so it's nice to see different opinions and not just one.
All in all, a great magazine.

quote:

Originally posted by french16:
It's more about wine than ratings, just the way it should be.

My comments were directed at the scores only as those show on CT. I hear the magazine itself is very good, but I haven't looked at it myself. My palate just doesn't seem to mesh well with their group. From what I can tell, they seem to dislike 03 Bordeaux vintage, really like 08, and are higher on 04 and 07 than most. Haven't seen any scores from 05 or 00 Bordeaux which I have more tasting experience with than the vintages they've posted (I disagree a lot on 03). Does anyone know if they taste blind?

quote:

Originally posted by french16:
This is in my opinion the best wine magazine, and by far, available here.
Quite diversified, many different critics, importers and scientist write and it is not a one man's voice.
Also, unlike WS and WA, you can actually read more than a page without seing 10 scores. It's more about wine than ratings, just the way it should be.
The tastings are usually done by 3 tasters so it's nice to see different opinions and not just one.
All in all, a great magazine.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. I do like and appreciate the panel tasting notes, but it’s all the other content that got me to subscribe.

quote:

Originally posted by vinole:

quote:

Originally posted by Machine:
I like the way they rate every wine I own 5 points below the cellartracker average my rating.

Hence they are on my Ignore list. Also surprised how often their three tasters are within 1 point of each other. Their notes on 03 St Pierre was when I finally had to put them on Ignore.

I couldn't help having the suspicion that they praise all the wines with abundantly unsold inventory (07,08), while downplaying older vintages like 03,96,95. So sorry for asking this noob but fundamental question.

Do you think the reviews from World of Fine Wine are independent ?

I love this publication and think that it provides a lot of value. There are so many articles in in, retrospective tastings etc....provides WAY more value that WS in my mind.

quote:

Originally posted by vinole:

quote:

Originally posted by french16:
It's more about wine than ratings, just the way it should be.

My comments were directed at the scores only as those show on CT. I hear the magazine itself is very good, but I haven't looked at it myself. My palate just doesn't seem to mesh well with their group. From what I can tell, they seem to dislike 03 Bordeaux vintage, really like 08, and are higher on 04 and 07 than most. Haven't seen any scores from 05 or 00 Bordeaux which I have more tasting experience with than the vintages they've posted (I disagree a lot on 03). Does anyone know if they taste blind?

You need to watch who is doing the tasting re/ Bordeaux Vintages. If it is Michael Bettane he is a fan of 2003 & 2008... But if it is some of the more 'traditional' english writers, they'll pan 2003 badly.

WOFW is not a publication to buy if you are looking for purchasing advice (IMO) because to me the most important thing for purchasing advice is to understand how well a given critic's tastes align with your own. With WFW the wide variety of tasters makes this difficult.

It is a GREAT publication for articles that go far deeper than with any other source available today... including most books.

quote:

Originally posted by SThomas:
You need to watch who is doing the tasting re/ Bordeaux Vintages. If it is Michael Bettane he is a fan of 2003 & 2008... But if it is some of the more 'traditional' english writers, they'll pan 2003 badly.

Almost all of the 03 scores I saw were from Brook, Browett, and Schuster (no Bettane), which supports what you are saying.

quote:

Originally posted by french16:

It's more about wine than ratings, just the way it should be.

Amen brother!

If you want a world of fine wine,
just ask w+a if you could spend some time standing in his cellar.

quote:

Originally posted by SThomas:
I suscribe as well; there was a promotion last year where cellartracker users could subscribe at a pretty steep discount, so I think I'm paying around $25 CAD an issue.

I like the mag; to me it is a great counterpoint to the North American wine writers (I subscribe to WS, WA, and IWC), and in effect is what Decanter should be. The articles go into far more depth than any other publication I've found... I agree with GlennK that it's like a series of quarterly $25 books.

I believe they are still honoring that promo.

In a few weeks I will actually turn on a new, free 'content channel' on CellarTracker with a few thousands reviews from WOFW. (The 1000 tasting notes they inadvertently entered will all move here as well.)

quote:

Originally posted by Machine:

I like the way they rate every wine I own 5 points below the cellartracker average.

Yeah, and you don't even have to subscribe for that privilege since they post on CT. What better way to be the hipster wine venue then to simply subtract five? Cool detachment: Check!

(Sorry Eric, didn't see your quote, and really I am always happy to see when a publication or a reviewer puts their notes on CT)

quote:

Originally posted by Sleepyhaus:

quote:

Originally posted by Machine:

I like the way they rate every wine I own 5 points below the cellartracker average.

Yeah, and you don't even have to subscribe for that privilege since they post on CT. What better way to be the hipster wine venue then to simply subtract five? Cool detachment: Check!

(Sorry Eric, didn't see your quote, and really I am always happy to see when a publication or a reviewer puts their notes on CT)

I certainly don't mind low scores from those that are clearly tough graders (like Alex H, whose notes on cellartracker make it relatively clear what he thought of a wine, with scores that are probably 5-6 points lower than the average cellartracker/professional scores). I did not quite get the same impression from WOFW, though I would agree their scores seem to be tough while their tasting notes make it clear what they think (which in theory deserves no negative comment besides the fact that it skews scores away from the apparently accepted norms)...maybe I just got thrown off by ratings like those for 2003 and 2004 Lafite (I did not taste with these guys when they tasted, but I have tasted both (not recently), and despite the similar overall cellartracker ratings they do not in my opinion deserve anything close to the same score...but thats just my opinion).

I jest, truly. Scores are relative as hell, I totally understand. I joke really about the bite when you see wines in your cellar with what appears to be an abhorrently low score, but it is just data, and is no less valid, and like you said it comes with description. The well-written notes make it clear that the tasters for TWFW are writing what they believe, and that they may often like a wine very much or see much upside despite lower than average scores.

That's interesting Vinole [about taster agreement] because my perception based on the last 7 issues is exactly the opposite.

I like the reviews in the sense that one [usually] gets the TNs of all 3 tasters, an average score AND their individual score which provides just the sort of insight [particularly in their blind tastings] that are missing from many panel tastings with only the average given.

I am amazed that they occasionally [and not that infrequently] also appear to have different views on whether a wine is flawed or not - even with TCA

That last point might appear to be criticism from me but is not and simply underlines the real world fact that even experts have very different sensitivity thresholds to things like TCA, brett et al.

I had been a subscriber for a year before renewing for 2 years at a cost of £16.10/issue during a marketing promotion.

As others have said it is an eclectic grouping of interesting articles and a variety of tastings [blind and unblind] in a high quality format which undoubtedly ups the costs and, therefore, the price.

However at 218 pages it is 'book-like' in its content and is a very good read with top writers, critics and contributors like David Schildknecht, Andrew Jefford, Hugh Johnson, Michel Bettane, Tom Stevenson, Terry Thiese, Peter Liem etc among the 40 listed.

The 18 person Editorial Board includes inter alia senior writers like Johnson and Bettane as well as Oenology Professors from France, the USA and Australia and top owners/ executives from winemakers in the USA [Paul Draper, Warren Winiarski, France [Christian Seely, Paul Pontallier], Italy [Piero Antinori], Germany [Michael Prinz zu Salm-Salm] and Portugal [Paul Symington]

For me it is by far the most comprehensive and well produced wine magazine. Of course it should be at the price but IMO it's worth it.

No commercial or finacial involvement other than as a subscriber.

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Groundwater:
That's interesting Vinole [about taster agreement] because my perception based on the last 7 issues is exactly the opposite.

I like the reviews in the sense that one [usually] gets the TNs of all 3 tasters, an average score AND their individual score which provides just the sort of insight [particularly in their blind tastings] that are missing from many panel tastings with only the average given.

That was an observation from looking at the 03 Bordeaux scores and probably doesn't apply outside of that. As to your other point, I am not a fan of panel scores as I can place no reliance on them when the individual tasters vary (and even the number of tasters) from review to review. I can only rely on a taster I have found who correlates well to my palate. That said, I agree with your comment that it adds a lot of value to show up to three individual scores and notes on a wine as I may be able to rely on certain individuals in terms of score, and the seperate TN's give you a good perspective of a wine's profile regardless of scores. Bottom line is, for me, I ignore panel scores and hope to find that some of their tasters align with mine and can use them going forward (on something other than 03 Bordeaux ).

It is also not lost on me that this magazine's strength is its in depth articles and not wine reviews.

I have enjoyed this thread a great deal.

I'm also still waiting to taste 2003 Bordeaux I like.

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
I have enjoyed this thread a great deal.

I'm also still waiting to taste 2003 Bordeaux I like.

Then your palate matches many of their reviewers quite well

quote:

Originally posted by vinole:

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
I have enjoyed this thread a great deal.

I'm also still waiting to taste 2003 Bordeaux I like.

Then your palate matches many of their reviewers quite well

...I'm not saying there are not fine wines from Bordeaux (2003), just saying I can not recall one, and time will tell.

My experience has been they are very monolithic, low in acidity or complexity and poor wines to enjoy with food.

Any you think I should try?

quote:

Originally posted by Eric LeVine:
I believe they are still honoring that promo.

I've not read this magazine and am intrigued.
I clicked the link and saw the offer. Adjusted the mailing to 'Canada' and the offer disappears.