Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm wondering if there are any good web sites out there where actual
people (the more the better) are posting honest and commercially
unbiased opinions on wines. I've been traveling quite a bit lately, and
thus can't rely on my usual wine merchants' opinions.

I'm especially hoping for reviews of small regional wineries' products,
preferably w/o the mass-produced, micro-oxygenated, tastes like a tree,
Robert-Parker-rules-the-industry approach (I like "big" reds too, but
variety is the spice...)

Many thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Cheers,
A. Winefellow
(don't bother trying to email, just post any reply -- thanks)

http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/ Mostly subscribers to Mr. Parkers
newsletter or online service. Celebrity winemakers get invited to be
queried. Most of the posters are admirers of Mr. Parker aka The Wine Pope
and are vociferous in offense if someone questions his palette or integrity.
Occasionally Mr. Parker answers question or reports in general terms about
his latest tasting. Most of wine subforum posts are erudite with a tendency
to play "can you top this" The Offline Forum lists many events put on by
participants at restaurants which prepare multi-course meal. There is
almost always a theme and only the top tier of wines blessed by Pope with 95
points or more. Were talking easily over $200 for the event plus maybe a
one night stay. There are other forums like the Social Hall on the site;
this forum has participants opinions on the arts and sports. Political
discussion is not allowed. You can learn what the international wine elite
feels about any wine topic. Questions are answered without pretension so if
you are new to wine basic questions are tolerated.

http://www.wineloverspage.com/ An extensive site on wine & food hosted by
Robin a wine writer and educators. Some regular participants have columns
and there are wonderful short articles, in fact I learned about his site
from Mr. Parker. This group has offline but they look for value more than
the Parker board. They have chats too. For the most part newcomers are
welcome and you can ask just about anything & get a decent answer. Members
of this board are less stuffy & kid each other more and decidedly less anal
about wine. There are a few members here who've been banned by the Parker
Boards moderator for bad behavior. Consequently you will see some Parker
bashing. Probably the best balanced Board.

On the other side of the coin there are 2 sites I don't like, the Wine
Spectator Board. Besides hyping the magazine, books, to-shirts a good
percentage of the participants are younger than the two above and not as
knowledgeable as the Parker or Garr Board. They are quite vigorous in
criticizing other posters. More then the editors of The Spectator they
dislike Parker and his influence. Any poster that uses a Parker score will
be verbally assaulted.

A profound dislike of Mr. Parker is the theme of the enemy vassal board.
Most of their participants are knowledgeable and clever. There is a lot
kidding of each other but most of it is understood and written for the wine
hip members. The name Parker is not allowed on the board,any one who
mentions or defends Mr. Parker is confronted. Like a schoolyard bully if
you reply in kind you are banished from posting, a fate that I endured
without too much travail.


http://groups.msn.com/BordeauxWineEnthusiasts
This groups seems most like the Parker Board but is focused on Bordeaux.
They are partying group who seem to have disposable income. They allow posts
on almost all wine topics and are entertaining in their comments. Most all
of the regulars don't think in terms of Parker & his rating, they can't wait
for the next event. It so a much smaller board then the others mentioned
meaning there is less traffic.

http://www.wineloverspage.com/cgi-bi...gi?lt=2&cat=24
There are many other boards general & special interests and they are
discussed by Robin & his posse on this site.

The group you've posted on AFW is not moderated although a few of us geezers
and baby boomers do a little moderating. It has been in existence almost as
long as the Prodigy board which evolved into E.Parker. Being self moderated
we have our share people trying to sell us Viagra or trolling--trying to
annoy the regulars. There are few offlines because we have a much smaller
base but we have knowledgeable posters who occasionally have flame wars.
Only enemy vessel is so intense as AFW.

What ever you do..... enjoy.
"ht" > wrote in message
...
> Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> I'm wondering if there are any good web sites out there where actual
> people (the more the better) are posting honest and commercially
> unbiased opinions on wines. I've been traveling quite a bit lately, and
> thus can't rely on my usual wine merchants' opinions.
>
> I'm especially hoping for reviews of small regional wineries' products,
> preferably w/o the mass-produced, micro-oxygenated, tastes like a tree,
> Robert-Parker-rules-the-industry approach (I like "big" reds too, but
> variety is the spice...)
>
> Many thanks for any assistance you can offer.
>
> Cheers,
> A. Winefellow
> (don't bother trying to email, just post any reply -- thanks)

ht wrote:
> Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> I'm wondering if there are any good web sites out there where actual
> people (the more the better) are posting honest and commercially
> unbiased opinions on wines. I've been traveling quite a bit lately, and
> thus can't rely on my usual wine merchants' opinions.
>
> I'm especially hoping for reviews of small regional wineries' products,
> preferably w/o the mass-produced, micro-oxygenated, tastes like a tree,
> Robert-Parker-rules-the-industry approach (I like "big" reds too, but
> variety is the spice...)
>
> Many thanks for any assistance you can offer.
>
> Cheers,
> A. Winefellow
> (don't bother trying to email, just post any reply -- thanks)


You might check out http://www.allaboutwine.com. It lists over 208 wine
blogs and the most important 'wine talk' BBs.

"Joe \"Beppe\"Rosenberg" > wrote:

> Most of the posters are admirers of Mr. Parker aka The Wine Pope
> and are vociferous in offense if someone questions his palette
> or integrity. ^^^^^^^

Haven't heard any critical remarks about Parker's painting
technique lately.

scnr,

M.

"Joe "Beppe"Rosenberg" > wrote in message
...
[interesting list snipped]

> The group you've posted on AFW is not moderated although a few of us
geezers
> and baby boomers do a little moderating. It has been in existence almost
as
> long as the Prodigy board which evolved into E.Parker. Being self
moderated
> we have our share people trying to sell us Viagra or trolling--trying to
> annoy the regulars. There are few offlines because we have a much smaller
> base but we have knowledgeable posters who occasionally have flame wars.
> Only enemy vessel is so intense as AFW.
>
When I first started an interest in wine in the early '90s I used to
frequent the Compuserve wine forum. Robin Garr was a regular contributor,
as were many other interesting people (Ron Berglund, winemaker at Swan used
to lurk). I learned an incredible amount from those folks, and when CS
closed the forum it was like losing a bunch of friends.

Dean

> What ever you do..... enjoy.

winexperience.com
On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 10:51:29 -1000, ht > wrote:

>Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
>I'm wondering if there are any good web sites out there where actual
>people (the more the better) are posting honest and commercially
>unbiased opinions on wines. I've been traveling quite a bit lately, and
>thus can't rely on my usual wine merchants' opinions.
>
>I'm especially hoping for reviews of small regional wineries' products,
>preferably w/o the mass-produced, micro-oxygenated, tastes like a tree,
>Robert-Parker-rules-the-industry approach (I like "big" reds too, but
>variety is the spice...)
>
>Many thanks for any assistance you can offer.
>
>Cheers,
>A. Winefellow
>(don't bother trying to email, just post any reply -- thanks)

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 10:51:29 -1000, ht > wrote:
>
>I'm wondering if there are any good web sites out there where actual people
>(the more the better) are posting honest and commercially unbiased opinions
>on wines. . . . I'm especially hoping for reviews of small regional
>wineries' products

Don't overlook this forum, the wine newsgroup. It's the original public
wine forum on the Internet -- by far -- turned 24 years old today. (See
separate birthday posting.) Lots of information archived and searchable
(currently on groups.google.com and elsewhere). It's not actually a "Web
site" but a broadcast forum -- these were around much longer than Web sites,
15 years longer -- but it's readily readable through many Web sites (some of
which indeed package its content as a draw).

Also, you can get the most help out of it by seaching archives for
specifics, then asking for what can't be found. And using a real name
(pseudonyms are a relatively recent fashion on Internet fora, like spam and
trolls.)

Hope this helps! -- Max

Earlier in this thread Joe "Beppe" Rosenberg wrote in a helpful review of
sites:

> The group you've posted on AFW . . . has been in existence almost as long
> as the Prodigy board which evolved into E.Parker.

I'm sure that Joe meant to say "for six years longer than the Prodigy board"
(1982 being earlier than 1988, if the latter date I've seen published is
right; these dates have appeared here occasionally), but was distracted.

More historical detail:

Fora on Prodigy, Compuserve, and the like were private, for paid
subscribers. Developed in competition with (and no doubt influenced by) the
newsgroups, which were the Internet's own version of that, and were also
older (1979). (PLATO was a still earlier, and more expensive, private
service.) Peter Salus in his book on Internet history (1995) reported that
the largest firms, Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, and GEnie, did not yet provide
direct Internet access to their subscribers as of the end of 1994, and that
most also restricted email access. (Some irony attends current popularity
of Internet services and software from certain firms that came fairly late
to it.)

Later, many such private facilities opened direct Internet email, newsgroup,
and/or live Internet access to their subscribers.

The wine newsgroup was always public. Newsgroups carried on Internet and
associated networks have been accessible since the middle 1980s to most
people in the US, and increasingly elsewhere, who wanted them, as you can
see from the archives. As a last detail, the wine newsgroup almost went
moderated in 1987 -- a step that worked successfully for other newsgroups,
continuing today. It would presumably have evolved differently if it had,
and today's junk posters would have gone elsewhere. (Sorry about that.)

Cheers -- Max

Self promo if you want to know about Spanish and Portuguese wines check
out: www.catavino.net Growing and doing our best to be unbiased and a
good place to ask questions about the regions.

Cheers, Ryan

OPC is infact the main indigredient in wine extract and is beneficial
to human body in avery aspects. Check this site:
http://ratingwine.blogspot.com/

OPC is in fact the main ingredient in wine extract and is very
beneficial
to human body in avery aspects. Check this site:
http://ratingwine.blogspot.com/

"MagicDrinks" wrote ................

> OPC is in fact the main ingredient in wine extract and is very
> beneficial to human body in avery aspects.

What a load of bunkum - what is "wine extract" - what is "distilled" thru
my body after drinking several bottles?

Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC) are extracts from grape seeds, french
maritime pine bark as well as red wine, cranberries, blueberries,
bilberries, tea (green and black), black currant, onions, legumes, parsley,
and the herb hawthorn.

As well as the usual claims in respect to antioxidants, some manufacturers
suggest that OPCs "may" be beneficial in relieving such discomfortures such
as chronic venous insufficiency, a condition closely related to varicose
veins. In both of these conditions, blood pools in the legs, causing aching,
pain, heaviness, swelling, fatigue, and unsightly visible veins. Fairly good
preliminary evidence suggests that OPCs can relieve leg pain and swelling.
However, no studies have evaluated whether regular use of OPCs can make
visible varicose veins disappear, or prevent new ones from developing.

As usual with such supplements, much available data is anecdotal and
suggestive, and claims made are vague.

There are more acceptable ways of promoting your blog than popping up, off
topic in an existing thread, in a newsgroup to which you have never made any
previous contribution.

--

st.helier

st.helier wrote:

>>OPC is in fact the main ingredient in wine extract and is very
>>beneficial to human body in avery aspects.
>
>
> What a load of bunkum - what is "wine extract" - what is "distilled" thru
> my body after drinking several bottles?
>
> Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC) are extracts from grape seeds, french
> maritime pine bark as well as red wine, cranberries, blueberries,
> bilberries, tea (green and black), black currant, onions, legumes, parsley,
> and the herb hawthorn.

aka tannins. Yes, OPC and tannins are one in the same. If they're so
good for me, I guess that I'll have to eat more banana peels and drink
more over-steeped tea! ;-)

Mark Lipton