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Rating: 
Summary: An Authoritative Guide
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book - if you don't have access to their web site
Review: This is a handy reference with tasting note and prices for many wines but there are some glaring holes. In many cases there are WS tasting notes available but they don't make it into the book, in other cases there are multiple entries over a period of time but only the latest is in the book. ....... Don't get me wrong, I love the book - its just a shame it wasn't more complete.
Rating: 
Summary: Well constructed for the casual wine buff
Review: Wine Spectator seems to have an excellent feel for who its audience is and what they want in a wine guide. Similar books by Hugh Johnson and Oz Clarke either skimp on the details with their pocket guides or inundate you with details in Encyclopedia sized tomes. This guide has just the right mix of extensive reviews, top 100 lists from recent years, current value wines, and summaries of the great wine growing regions. The regional summaries give you almost everything you need to know about classifications, primary varietals, labeling practices, etc. One suggesiton would be to include sample labels from each region to make shopping a little easier. Another would be to realign the Burgundy reviews to group them together in a less confusing fashion. The pull-out vintage charts and wine-buying strategies are the icing on the cake. Now, if only they would offer an addendum (as well as a complete volume release) each year to keep prior customers up to date... Cheers
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