Customer Reviews

Wine Spectator's Ultimate Guide to Buying Wine, Eighth Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Editor and Publisher Marvin R. Shanken calls this book "an indispensable resource" for wine lovers. I'd have to say he is right about that. This book provides everything and then some that most of the wine buying public needs or wants to know about the vintner's tasty product. Over 40,000 wines are reviewed and there are tasting notes on more than 20,000.

One section of the book concentrates on great wines suitable for the wine collector. It rates the best wines from the present vintages of what the authors consider are the world's most prestigious wine types. These are identified as Red Bordeaux, Red Burgundy, White Burgundy, Red Rhome, Piedmont Red, Tuscan Red, Vintage Port, and California Cabernet. Included with the ratings are date references to "Wine Spectator" issues in which the wines were rated.

Another interesting feature is a wine buying strategy for stocking wine cellars. Vintage charts are provided which cover the top 100 best wines released by year from 1988 to 1999. A detachable and foldable vintage chart is included which may be carried in the purse or wallet for easy reference during those shopping sprees. Also helpful is a complete winery index at the back of the book.

For those folks like me who are not wine aficionados but like to get the best value for their dollars, the editors have included a checklist for wineries and wines of good quality for $12.00 or less. This is a fairly inclusive list and includes wines from Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

Full of great information, there is probably too much detail for the casual wine shopper; however, it appears to be a must have for the more discriminating wine buyer.

I had great hopes for the 8th edition as I have used previous editions a lot. What a letdown this new edition is. A total diversion from previous editions, it only list one vintage year (the most recent one) for each wine!!! This book is a compiled list of all wines reviewed by the Wine Spectator in the last year ONLY. If that is of interest to you, go right ahead, spend your money and be happy. I would rather try to obtain an older edition if you want a reference to use as comparisons. Or/and by Parker's Wine buying guide which is far, far superior.

In 2000, WS published their 7th edition of the Ultimate wine buying guide. This books was too early to rate and address most of the Year 2000 Bordeaux vintage (as well as other year 2000 varietals). So one would expect that the 8th edition (published in 2004) would cover the 2000 Bordeaux wines, particularly since this vintage is widely-lauded as one of the best vintages in the last few decades. But no. The "Ultimate Guide" largely does not cover one of the best vintages of arguably the most prestigious varietal produced. This is beyond absurd.

Also this book eliminates 30,000 wines which were covered in the 7th edition. It also eliminates the relatively in-depth discussion of different wine-growing regions. It eliminates yearly summary vintage ratings. It has no index.

One can only presume that WS wants to publish one of these every year or two and make wine enthusiasts have to purchase each edition now, as apparently each edition will only address a limited number of wines.

This awful book is simply awful. Whoever made the above-referenced changes was severely misguided.

The new 8th Edition is a grave disappointment to those familiar with earlier editions. I valued the 6th and 7th Editions for their introductory essays on wines "by country of origin".

More significantly, this edition is remarkably sparse in its reviews and ratings: by winery/by wine name/by vintage. This edition covers 11,000 wines versus the 7th Edition's 40,000. For example, Beringer Alluvium Red (a particular favorite) is listed only for the 1999 vintage, while the 7th Edition, published in 2000, reviews and rates four vintages: 1993 through 1996.

The typefont used in the 8th Edition is overly large: intended, perhaps, to disguise its reduced scope.

Wine Spectator's wine ratings, available to members at their website, are both extensive and reliable, but they have failed to pull that value forward into this Edition of their Wine Buying Guide.

In this eighth edition:
1. Review is for one vintage only for each wine.
2. The covered vintage is not the newest nor the best nor the typical one, eg. Penfolds Bin 128 has review on vintage 2001 in WS's web site but only year 2000 was covered in the book. Even Chateau Latour, only 2001 was in the book. I just can't see any real use of it.
3. The only "good" thing is the "big" font which should be good for short-sighters.

The previous editions of this book are very informative and helpful to both beginners and collectors.
THIS new 8th edition however, is a complete departure from the old format, and in my opinion, it is a change for the worse. There are only the reviews for the past couple of years, and already it seems somewhat out of date. If you're looking for something older than '99 you're out of luck. I found the reviews (in large type, no less) to be less than all-inclusive of even the small number of wines available now. Instead of over 40,000 reviews, you are only getting about 11,000. It would seem to be a crass attempt to get you to pony up about $50 yearly for the rest of them on the Wine Spectator website.
Some beginners may get something out of this, but most will not. I will be returning my 8th edition.

Wine Speclulator does a nice job of reviewing wines. However, in the past they have created a comprehensive listing of ratings for vertical vintages of a variety of wines. It was called "Wine Spectator's Ultimate Guide to Buying Wine". In this eighth edition, they have only included the scores and tasting notes of current vintages.
If you are looking for past ratings, they want you to join their website and pay for it. This is fine, but don't be fooled like me and think you are getting the past ratings when purchasing this book.

I am really disappointed!

I am going back to Robert Parker for my wine news. He does a nice objective job, and is regarded by my peers as a higher authority than "Wine Speculator" anyhow.
Oh, and my peers include a Master Sommelier, and two Advanced Sommeliers with the British Guild of Master Sommeliers.

J.R. PHX, AZ

The 8th Edition is 1-star (or less, if I could rate it less) compared to the 4- or 5-star 7th Edition. Unfortunately, this website combines ratings over editions. I really do not have much to add to the other reviews; read them, and look at the dates they were written. At this point in time (Decem 04), this website does not separate reviews by edition. (To their credit, this site changes procedures frequently, so maybe when you read this they will do a better job, and clearly identify reviews with the specific book editions to which they apply.)

The 8th Edition is OK -- it reviews 11,000 wines that "are available currently". That's probably true, but what is relevant is the fact that of the 300 or so different wines I drank (or tasted) this year, I have a hit rate of maybe 10% (that is, only about 30 of them were in the 8th Edition of the Ultimate Buying Guide). During the period from mid 00 to mid 04, I used the 7th Edition, and had a hit rate of around 70%. (The 7th Edition had prices/ratings for about 4 times as many wines as the 8th Edition, but for many people, those extra wines constitute far more than 3/4 of the consumed rated wines. --- Work the numbers in what I just wrote.)

The most important thing about the Ultimate Buying Guide is not the editors' rating/review (I guess they're smart, but it is not very useful to be told "84 -- Enjoyable but slightly volatile, with rhubarb and ripe fruit character etc. etc.", page 435), but rather, the useful thing is the price. The major difference in this edition and the previous editions is the amount of space given to each wine. I want about one line of text per wine versus the 1 inch of column space given to each wine in the current edition. The prices at my local merchants vary considerably, but I don't want to go chasing prices. If I like the wine, and the price charged is close to the Ultimate Buying Guide price, I'd buy it. I took the 7th Edition of the Guide with me when I went shopping. That was the real value of the Ultimate Buying Guide. I doubt if I'll ever take the 8th Edition anywhere.

I have to admit that I did not know anything about buying wines before I purchased this book. For all of those people who don't know anything about wine, the task of buying wine can be very intimidating and frustrating. However, this book clearly explained everything there is to know about buying wine, and the best part is that the book is not confusing at all. The book tells you how to tell the difference between all the different wines. In addition, it explained how to find the best prices. I showed this book to my wine collecting neighbor and even he was impressed, and I thought this book was only for beginners. This book helped me out a lot.

What a shame when a new format turns what was once a fairly encyclopedic wine guide into a rehash of the last years reviews. Having purchased editions 5, 6, and 7 I was eagerly waiting for the release of the 8th edition. It was stunningly disappointing.

What is worse is that the first reviews on Amazon must have been for earlier editions as they still listed "Over 40,000 wines reviewed". Misleading to say the least.

I'm returning mine as defective and will not purchase it again unless they go back to the old format.