No more excuses for buying wine based on label design! The popular Wine Spectator magazine's massive guide covers common recent vintages as well as rare collectibles. More than 40,000 individual wine ratings--organized first by country, then by producer--are based on blind tastings by the magazine's editors. Each entry includes a rating on a 100-point scale, price information, and often a description of the wine--for example, "Wild and exotic, bursting at the seams with tons of round fruit flavors, loads of wild berry characteristics, hints of violets, earth and blueberries and well-integrated tannins to boot." The editors smartly contextualize this mass of data with an introduction to each country's wine industry, emphasizing the country's major growing regions, common grape varietals, significant geographic and climatic influences, labeling conventions, and stylistic traditions and trends.

This guide's most useful features are tables organizing the wines by overall quality or value. For example, the connoisseur will enjoy the table listing only the finest wines from the greatest vintages of the past 10 years. Any wine enthusiast will do well with the table featuring "value wines" rated 85 points or higher but costing less than $12. Another table of top-rated current releases is a veritable shopping list. With that list, no one needs to rely on pretty labels anymore. --Brendan Finucane


Book Description
Here's something no wine aficionado should be without. The experts at Wine Spectator magazine have tasted tens of thousands of wines to provide oenophiles with a complete reference of exceptional wines from around the world. Because it guides its readers to only the most satisfying selections, the Wine Spectator, one of the foremost publications on the subject of wine, is valued for the select reviews that appear in each issue. This comprehensive buying guide includes more than 10,000 listings, representing all recent vintages from 40 countries, organized by both wine and country of origin. Each entry includes a full review and rating. Make no mistake--these are the most interesting wines available, all rated on Wine Spectator's unique 100-point scale. This is the only volume that gathers all the results of the magazine staff's most current tastings into one convenient resource, and along with our other successful Wine Spectator titles, it's sure to be a strong addition to our successful wine and spirits category.

FROM THE PUBLISHER