Issue Date: January 12, 2003
Where on the Web
The best of wine online
Connoisseurs and amateurs alike can find useful information.
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Whenever a waiter drops a 5-pound wine list on my table and says he'll be right back, sweat begins to trickle down my brow. What to pick?
Wine is an obsession for many, and there is a sea of books on every imaginable subject surrounding it. But rather than dive into them, I decided to try my luck on the Internet.
After weeding through dozens of sites passing themselves off as information portals only to hawk their own bottles, I finally found a good objective one for novices: wineanswers.com, a site sponsored by the non-profit Wine Market Council. You can get articles and do searches to find out basic information on just about anything concerning wine (regions, vintages) and even get a tip of the day.
Plus, you can e-mail specific questions to the site, like what wine to pair with a chili cheeseburger (a stumper, I thought). A few hours later, I got an e-mail directing me to an article on the site. It turns out that the all-American zinfandel matches the spice of the chili perfectly.
If that's a bit too amateurish for you, try eRobertParker.com. Founded by the renowned critic who set the standard in wine ratings, this site offers sparkling insider knowledge. Was 1992 a good year for Margaux in the Bordeaux region? This site will take you to a vintage chart, articles and more than 50,000 tasting notes from books and Parker's "Wine Advocate" newsletter. If you still don't know a merlot from a pinot noir, this site may be more frustrating than helpful. "It's definitely better for those who have a deeper knowledge of wines," says Mark Braunstein, Parker's business partner on the site.
Either way, my wine voyage across cyberspace proved fruitful. At the very least, I can sound erudite when I have people over for chili cheeseburgers.
-- David Lipschultz
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