The Wine Enthusiast Magazine Review

Wine Enthusiast Magazine...
The Concise Wine Guide

You've probably seen and heard a lot about this magazine... As one of the top wine magazines in the world, Wine Enthusiast is one of the leaders in setting trends and championing vineyards, vintages, and varietals worldwide.

The Wine Enthusiast magazine offers you a chance to stay up-to-date with what's going on in the world of wine, while it will also give you great suggestions for your wine purchases through their much praised Buying Guide.

When selecting a wine magazine, Wine Enthusiast subscriptions present you with many differentiating advantages.

Each issue is packed with interesting articles about trends in winemaking, exciting wine tasting opportunities, hot wine regions, and - my favorite from the Dec 2009 issue - "the slimming effects of red wine," (that really made me feel good about myself after the holiday season!)

The 8 3/4 by 13 inches (slightly larger than standard) formatted magazine also offers you recipes and glimpses into the gourmet world of high cooking and top-class restaurants.

The Buying Guide

Just the Wine Enthusiast's Buying Guide alone - which is also available for iphone, so that you can even use it when ordering wine at a restaurant - is well worth a subscription.

Organized according to regions in every issue, and by price, rating, style, appellation, and varietal in the software application, the guide is a comprehensive source of every wine worth knowing about in the world.

Match that with their enlightening Restaurant Menu Term Glossary, (who knew that pesto is called pistou in France, or that there were anchovies in Tapenade?) and you may appear to be a connoisseur much sooner than you actually achieve that status. :-)

One of the things most praised about the Buying Guide is that they always include photos of the labels, which can be of great help when you're looking for a bottle of wine either online or at a store.

Another feature of the guide that has been widely acclaimed is the way it is organized. The ratings presented are based on a 100 scale, much like the ones used at competing magazine Wine Spectator.

Size Matters

If you are a beginning wine enthusiast and you like your magazine articles concise, short, and to the point; then a Wine Enthusiast magazine subscription will be perfect for you. Their articles are usually under one page long, containing only the most relevant information about the issue addressed, written in crystal-clear language.

However, if you're interested in a more in-depth analysis of wine and all its secrets, it may be that the Wine Enthusiast is too simple to satisfy your needs.

Online Content

An interesting feature of the magazine is that web surfers without Wine Enthusiast subscriptions can also access the magazine's content online, including the full Buying Guide (which requires a free registration). This is an increasingly uncommon practice with print magazines, and one that is much welcomed! :-)

In addition to this, the magazine's website is very well-organized and functional. Their editor's blogs, vintage chart, news, and wine calendar sections are among the most popular ones.

Pricing and Benefits

I've list the Wine Enthusiast subscription pricing for you here:

1 year $29.95, 2 years $49.95, 3 years $69.95
Canadian: 1 year (13 issues) for US$49.95
International: 1 year (13 issues) for US$79.95

With a cover price of $69.30 for one year of 13 issues, if you subscribe to Wine Enthusiast you know very good value when you see it!

Readers' Buzz

After looking over Wine Enthusiast reviews on Amazon, epinions, and other similar customer review sites; I came to the conclusion that most readers agree that Wine Enthusiast is clearly not a magazine for the sophisticated connoisseur.

I myself had a chance to grasp their meaning, when I looked over articles such as the one mentioned above about the slimming powers of reds; it was a very interesting article, but the substance was not there. As many Wine Enthusiast magazine readers complained; it left you wanting for more.

On the other hand, most reviewers seemed thrilled about the Buying Guide and the Wine Enthusiast's website, though some complained that Wine Spectator had more wine ratings per issue.

All in all, beginners and hobbyists seemed quite happy with the magazine, while connoisseurs had more misgivings about its depth of content.

More importantly, most readers recommended purchasing a Wine Enthusiast subscription.

Discovering the Secrets...

So I'd say, this large-sized and colorful 100-page magazine represents a perfect starting point if you want to discover the secrets of the world of wine. And if you're a food and distilled drink enthusiast, you will also find interesting information here.

With beautiful photography and catchy headlines, this magazine is like eye-candy with just enough substance for an easy, pleasant read.