Where to find recommendations

Hi,

Very new to wine as a hobby - something that I feel I have to preface all my initial posts with, so apologies if you've seen this before

Because I'm still sat at the bottom of what appears to be a very steep learning curve in terms of varieties, vintages and regions, I would like to be able to pick out one or two reliable sources of recommendations for new wines to try. I would also value tasting notes so that I can compare my initial impressions with those of a more experienced taster and learn thereby.

The question is, can I have some suggestions on places on the internet to go as reliable places to find recommendations of good wine? I'd prefer they were free (I spend enough money on the wine already!) and they need to regularly review and recommend bottles that are fairly easily available on the high street - I'm not at a stage where I wish to search further afield yet.

Cheers,
Matt

I see you are from the UK Matt. I find Hugh Johnson's Pocket book to be a good all-round resource. For specific suggestions of wines to buy on the "high street" I'd go for Matthew Juke's book. Think it's called The Wine List. Neither are free of course, but neither are expensive either. For a summary of what is recommended in the UK press, see:
http://www.wine-pages.com/roundup.shtml

Matt--
Welcome. Hope you'll join us here often. For reccos, try wineloverspage.com (you may have gone there before arriving here) and look for Robin Garr's annual Top QPR ("Quality Price Ratio") list. That's as good a place to start as I know about.

Matt
Plenty to read, and I'll back Steve up by saying Hugh Johnsons pocket book is page for page the most useful wine book around (in my opinion of course!).
It's also important to let the authors give you hints and suggestions, but to judge how good a wine is by your own palate. Wine critics can end up poles apart when tasting the same wine, so it's important not to take their words as gospel.
Plenty of other good books around - one favourite is Michael Broadbents Vintage Wine series (the third instalment came out about 5 years ago I think). It's basically a massive set of tasting notes organised by region and vintage, with wines going back decades, even centuries! It's unquestionably old-world biased, but that's the guys background, so I'd tend to by-pass his comments on Oz or NZ.
Somewhere down the line, a wine atlas can be good to read, learning more about the wine regions and their influences.

I've got far too many wine books, but I do like reading them as they're easy to pick-up & put-down.

As for places on the web, try the links pages of places like this site, Wine-Pages site in UK, Jancis Robinsons site and you'll find the links pages of the sites they list open up a wide range. Another option is the annual wine book "Wine Report" (Tom Stevenson leads this publication) which has a wine on the web section at the back.

Hope this helps

regards

Ian

There is no substitute for trying wines. Go to wine tastings, if possible. If you are near any wine bars, go there and try wines by the glass.

If you are in or near London, there are a lot of wine lovers who get together for wine dinners. Go to the eRobertParker website and look for "Offlines" in London/UK.

[Jenise]

and they need to regularly review and recommend bottles that are fairly easily available on the high street - I'm not at a stage where I wish to search further afield yet.

Matt, forgive me, but I really gritted my teeth when I read this because, I have to tell you, the wines that are "fairly easily available" are largely not going to be the either the most interesting wines or best wine values. The affordable quality and epiphany-level experiences you seek are most likely going to be found among the small-production wines that escape the high street hype. What you need is a mentor or group of same. For one, you need to find a really good wine shop with an understanding clerk/proprietor who will get to know your tastes and guide your purchases toward the kind of wines that will both please you and teach you. Secondly, you've made a huge step in joining this community and reaching out with your questions, but you need to further that by reading the tasting notes posted here and searching out the wines that sound good to you. Both processes will develop both your palate and your knowledge.

Nothing beats actually tasting them, because after all the research is done and all of the reviews are read, what it comes down to is whether or not you like a wine.

Now that's not to say you should just walk into a store and pick at random. But talking and becoming friendly with the propietor of a wine shop will do wonders. You will easily be able to tell the wines he's excited about.

Also wine clubs are a decent way. Essentially you're allowing the "expert" of the wine club to choose the wines for you each month. They vary in expense and are a good way to try different wines.

That said, there are scores of notes on this website from real people not influenced by trends or wineries. I do that before looking at other reviews such as Parker or whatever.

[Jenise]

That said, there are scores of notes on this website from real people not influenced by trends or wineries. I do that before looking at other reviews such as Parker or whatever.

Ryan, I so agree with you. I'm much more inclined to trust the impressions of the guy who bought--and drank--the whole bottle.