The Auswine Forum

What do people think about the quality of this publication?

I like it. I buy it regularly.

prefer it to winestate

regards

ditto to both.

c

Very good (93/100? ). They do some very good line-ups in their tastings ... Jancis was on the panel on a big Cabernet round up a while back. Very good Top 100 review section done by Huon Hooke (I think) for Oz.

Very good. The only other Australian alternative is Winestate (pffffffffffttt) now that Divine Mag is only online (boooo). I also buy Decanter.
GW

I'm reasonably impressed - I must be, as I have a complete set barring Issue 1. That said, I always think it sleazy when advertising bears an uncanny resemblance to editorial - all those white-bordered pages headed 'promotion' always furrow my brow...
Other than that, it's pretty good.
Graeme

A very good read, but STILL to much advertising ( I know, I know) a bit more honesty in the write up of wines, and this business of pairing up wines with luxury goods! you have got to be kidding me - remember it is grape juice for crying out loud! that have been published in past issues.
I really enjoy the regular features on Jancis Robinson, Leo Schoefield and the other wine writers, oh and then there is CM well...............anyway!

FWIW I learned to just ignore the ads (the full page spreads of bottles of wine in "sexy" surrondings still make me laugh, they are so blatent).
The actual content is pretty good when you think of the authors and reviewers ... Halliday, Oliver, CM, Hooke, Cambell, Caillard. Like a who's who of the pros.

I hate the way GTW blurs the lines between editorial and advertising – did anyone else notice that the latest copy had a poster, an ad and a feature on professional cellaring services that all centred on the same company? – but aside from that I think it's a pretty good magazine. As Jay60A said, great contributors, good features and interviews, and a reasonably wide spread of wines in their tasting line-up (although now I think about it, I never use the tasting notes when I am figuring out what to buy next). I actually took out a subscription a couple of months ago.

As far as Winestate goes, I've tried it a few times over the last couple of years, and the last copy still holds my household's all-time record for the quickest trip from the newsagent to the recycling bin. Just awful.

Decanter is OK too. I'm also thinking about subscribing to either winefront or onwine, but I still need to figure out which would suit me best. I'm leaning towards winefront at the moment.

its not a bad mag as far as wine mags go, but a flick through at the news stand is all i bother with, dont buy many wine mags...maybe 2 or 3 a year now, most if im flying to make the wait for the equisite airline food more bearable

I have settled into the habit of buying Gourmat Wine Traveller and Decanter, both for the wine reviews and the articles by Jancis Robinson, Michael Broadbent and others. Like most of you I don't like the way the adverising in Gourmat Wine Traveller is allowed to resemble a magazine article. It annoys those of us who recognize it but fools other readers. Not a pleasant strategy.

Cheers.............Mahmoud.

I like it, look forward to picking it up and think it's way in advance of Winestate which still has the same production values that it's had for years (and the same hackneyed content). I quite like the way GWT focusses fairly heavily on international wines too, all things considered.

It annoys those of us who recognize it but fools other readers. Not a pleasant strategy.

agree, its packed with bloody ads

I haven't bothered renewing my subscription since they started with flood of NZ stuff.

It's funny, but the 'flood of NZ stuff' is pretty much what I like about it, although for a while there, I, too stopped buying it because of that very reason. I find myself quite interested in NZ wines these days, partly as a result of the fairly decent coverage it gets in the magazine. I agree the 'promotional page' ads are cheesy and unwanted although it's hard not to be amused (and thus, in a way, entertained) by pictures of cut glass goblets overlaid against Henry Bucks cardies and the like...

No mags for me, though if I'm travelling abroad and see a new one then I might grab it for a journey. The re-incarnated Wine International did show some signs of improvment, but as the leading newsagent here no longer stocks it, I suspect they might not survive.

Winestate has (/had?) a couple of good columnists in Richard Gawel and Velmai Henkel. I found most of their articles interesting. Couldn't say the same about the travel writer on the inside back cover. I suspect I'll always find these sort of columns egotistical rambling! The crux of the magazine (the tastings) is fatally flawed IMO by the changing critics. The Cooper section on NZ (now replaced by Peter Saunders? or Bob C?) was more useful, but I'd rather have his book.

Gourmet WT: From the couple of editions I've read, not a fan. Some of the reasons quoted above, but also it just feels a bit glossy and soft.

I'd love to read a hard-hitting magazine; with plenty of news, regular reviewing team (for palate callibration); thoughtful articles and a few less glossy photos of winemakers studying barrel samples alongside glowing tributes to them (I thought it was common practice to wait until someone died before eulogising about them).

I'm with Craig. If it's a choice between "Wanderlust", "Cosmo", "Mens Health" or a wine mag at the station kiosk, then the wine mag will win (just )

regards

Ian

I subscribe to GWT, Wine Spectator, and buy the hard copy of The Wine Advocate Australian issue. (online I get Wine Front, eBob and QPRWine.) I always keep GWT but WS gets chucked unless there is something really worthwhile; WS is really a lifestyle magazine with a focus on wine. I find GWT quite useful and its not hard to sort the ads from the articles. The only problem is that we don't see most of the wines reviewed over here.

Mike

KMP wrote:The only problem is that we don't see most of the wines reviewed over here.

Mike

I am sure Gavin has reasonable International delivery rates .

Another thing I'm not a fan of is the plethora of reveiws of relatively cheap wines (say $15). Having spoken to other wine geeks, they're not interested in cheap stuff, they want reviews on the good stuff.

..... and I gave up my subscription to Winestate some time after. I also buy occasional copies of Decanter (and subscribe to their email news service) but as 97% of my cellar is Australian, I rely on email articles, GTW, and more importantly my own experience to determine what I buy these days.

I suppose what I'm saying is that the magazines used to influence me far more than they now do. If that means they served an educational purpose, then, OK, I'd admit to that, and would encourage novice wine enthusiasts to read as much as they can. Mine's been supplemented by some tastings, and some industry expoerience, but hey, that's a lot more expensive than a mag