The World Wide Web of Wine Information

There is an almost limitless amount of wine information out there on the internet, much of it good but the trick is to know where to find it. This article will cover the following areas:-

Wine Forums

Wine Knowledge Sites

Helpful Sites

Wine Forums

Internet wine forums can be loads of fun, either by being a voyeur (commonly known as being a lurker) and observing the interaction of the participants or from interacting. You can ask questions and are free to jump in with comments of your own. They can be addictive and huge time-wasters but they can also vastly increase wine knowledge.

There are three main wine forums in Australia (all run by wine retailers) that are pretty much devoted to Oz wine.

The oldest, Auswine Forum which used to be the busiest in now a lot quieter than it once was due to the advent of a newer, more hip site. Auswine has a limited number of posters but the talk is mainly wine with very limited side chat or banter. There are some very experienced and knowledgeable posters who visit but it is a restrained place where most people don’t post anything unless they feel they are adding something new to the topic.

The newest and most active Australian wine forum is now Star Forum. There are two main sections, The World of Wine and Tasting Notes. Whilst there are over 850 registered members, the majority of the posts are from a hard core bunch of contributors but that is the case with many wine forums. This site has a huge amount of banter and it looks like many of the contributors are friends and know each other well. In some ways, it’s very cliquey with contributors regularly telling each other “to get stuffed.” Many of the contributors are either young or young at heart. On many of the threads, the topic quickly moves off the original theme and onto side conversations, much of it not wine related.

Winepros Forum has been around for some years but in all honesty it has seen better days. In the last month, seven new topics have been posted with a grand total of thirteen responses, so in reality, it’s not worth the bother.  

Overseas, there are loads of wine forums to choose from depending on your particular bent and wine preferences.

The West Coast of the USA is host to Brad Harrington’s West Coast Wine Network. This site is very much like Auswine in that it does not have the traffic it once generated but in many ways, its better for it as the board members have a sense of wine maturity and experience. It hosts multiple discussion forums but the two that most readers here may be interested in are firstly the WCWN General Discussion Board where everything from US baseball to vineyard ripening grape reports are discussed. The other major forum of interest is the WCWN Tasting Notes Forum which concentrates on US wines, French wine and has a smattering of Australian stuff thrown in. Summing up this site in a few words it would be “some wine experience with a new world outlook.” This site is paid for by donations, advertising and the sale of a small range of wine.

Vino Cellars is the new kid on the US block and is doing very well. This not for profit site has the largest number of individual topic forums of any wine internet site. The following is solid without being as big as some and the contributions flow quick and fast but that is not a problem as you only need to view the areas of personal interest. Knowledge level is good and the natives are friendly without being cliquey. It is the best laid out site of all of them!

Probably the longest continuously running site is Robin Garr’s site, Wine Lovers Discussion Group which is commonly known as WLDG The “folk” (to use an Americanism) are very knowledgeable and discussions take place mainly around French followed by American wine but there is an occasional splattering of wines topics from down under. If I had to sum up this site in a few words it would be “hard core conservative with many experienced wine drinkers.”

Mark Squires' hosted Bulletin Board has a secret weapon; it is on the Robert Parker website and the great man drops in from time to time and joins in the chat. As one would expect, the Mark Squires' Wine Bulletin Board attracts a lot of Parker followers to this site and it is probably the most active in the world. Many of the wines discussed are those styles reviewed and liked by Parker (but he does review a lot of wine.) There is a lot of praise given to Mr Parker on this site and non Parker lovers may find it a bit over the top. Some of the threads can reach incredible lengths; a recent example was where someone ordered some wine and the retailer reneged; the thread ran to 229 responses and is still going. Like many forums, debate can get heated and “everyone wants to have their say” even if there is nothing new being added to the topic. Getting involved in watching these lengthy soap opera sagas can be an enormous time-waster.

The hugely popular Wine Spectator Magazine has a number of wine chat forums. The site has recently been upgraded and there is now a charge for many of the content that used to be free but the Forums are gratis. They are un-moderated so discussions can become heated and personal. Whilst watching verbal fisticuffs from the sidelines may be an enjoyable spectator sport (ban pun intended) it gets pretty boring and in reality is counterproductive. Luckily, there have been less of these distractions of late. The WS magazine, which is very much a wine lifestyle publication, is the main catchment area for initial contributors, so there is a high level of less experienced wine drinkers who frequent this forum.

Tom Cannavan has a very tightly run forum running out of the UK which covers wine from all over the world. UK Wine Forum is very English and civilised but won’t hold much interest for most Oz wine lovers. However if you are into French wine, it is a good place to visit.

The second last forum for inclusion here is one of the smallest and is located in Canada. Aptly titled, WineFanatic the contributors have all been seriously affected by their equally serious wine habit. It is a fun place where everyone appears to know everyone else but I still haven’t worked out who is paying the rent.  

The final forum for this week is a small one that I enjoy because of the limited number of posters and the friendly family nature of the forum. It’s actually based in Israel and is moderated by Daniel Rogov, a professional wine writer for some newspapers who must have tasted just about every wine produced anywhere in the world. He is a friendly curmudgeon and I enjoy giving him loads of cheek. Strat's Place - A Celebration of Wine, Gardening and the Arts Wine from all over the world is discussed by interesting people from all over the world. This forum has some unique contributors including Inspector Clouseau and even God has been known to post from time to time.

Wine tools

As well as wine forums, there are an almost infinite number of sites that may be of interest. I will keep the description of each brief.

Looking for a wine bargain. There are many sources of information including:-

Best Buys – Torbwine best deal found.

The Red Bigots Buyers Guide – Updated almost daily with the latest specials (red wine only).

WineSearcher – has two levels. The first which is free is OK (limited to paying sponsor sites) but the Pro version which costs US$29.95 is fantastic. It provides full price comparisons between all the 3508 sites and you can save enough to pay for the subscription with a couple of well found deals that you may normally not find on your own. Good for serious wine buyers.

WineRobot – another free search engine which lists the wine prices from a limited number of subscribing wine retailers.

Thinking of travelling to the Oz wine regions? Here are a few sites that will make your life a lot easier.

Tour SA – lists links to all the wine growing regions the state has to offer. If its there, it will be available to find though this site.

            The Barossa Wineries  – can be found here

            McLaren Vale Wineries  - can be found here under the Attractions link

            Clare Wineries – can be found under the Attractions link

Coonawarra wineries - can be found under the Attractions link

Plonk in Victoria – this link provides a gateway to all that Victoria has to offer in the way of wineries. Beware, many of the publications on offer and much of the information listed requires the winery to play ball with the tourist body so many wineries are not listed.

Thinking of going west to WA – this link leads to the main wine growing regions of WA. The site has had a rework since I last visited and the wine tourism section is devoid of useful detail so I would get a copy of “A Guide To Touring the WA Wine Regions which is an inexpensive, fantastic book and it can be ordered here.

Wine Show Results

Adelaide

Sydney Royal

Sydney Top 100 International

Royal Melbourne Show – The JWT yawn

Brisbane Wine Festival

National Wine Show - Canberra

Bits and Bobs

Wineries – want to find details on a particular winery? The list has not been updated for sometime, but all the established names are there.   Also Travel Envoy can be used as an alternative.

Tasting Notes – want to search a load of sites, this will do it! And there are wines from all over the world.

Brett – want all the technical ins and outs.

Sulfides in Wine – this will tell all you want to know and much you don’t!

Wine Australia – the name says it all, the “official site” with loads of industry connections.

Wine Diva – Calendar of events, books, merchants and wineries plus other information

Winetitles – Australian Wine Online – industry-oriented, but some useful information statistics. Unfortunately it is not being kept up to date and does not have as much new information as it did a few years ago.

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2004