"BFSON" in ...
> For a less flattering view of the book, here is my review from the April
2003
> California Grapevine wine newsletter:

Maybe the wrong place to ask the question, and maybe not even the same
publication -- but you may appreciate it better when I admit my regrets for
not mentioning the _Grapevine_ when I started posting advice on wine
publications in article 7-Oct-83 on net.wines, Usenet's
original wine newsgroup. (At that time _Vintage_ magazine was just about to
stop, the 1984 UC-Sotheby _Book of California Wine_ -- flooding the used
market recently -- was being edited with Bob Thompson's survey of wine
publications including yours, or at least Ponomareff's, from San Diego; and
one or two newfangled publications now popular, though not even mentioned in
the UC-Sotheby book, were ascendant. (Below is that section of the article
I posted, for nostalgia's sake and, again, with apologies. Rest of the
article recommended some general books.) I think also that the number of CA
Pinots has grown.

Best -- Max Hauser


Excerpt from , net.wines, 7 Oct 1983:

For CURRENT information on available wines -- prices, characteristics, and
trends -- nothing beats the serious (i.e., advertisement-free,
subscription-only) wine magazines. I am aware of four major ones: Finigan's
Private Guide to Wines (rather circumspect and button-down in style);
Vintage Magazine; The Underground Wineletter (out of southern California,
and a bit more free-wheeling); and Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine.
All of these present tasting notes based on blind tastings, conducted far
more professionally (and usually by more-educated palates) than wine reviews
that typically appear in local papers, state fairs, etc. Connoisseurs'
Guide surveys California wines exclusively, but exhaustively; typically it
will provide details and tasting notes on, say, ALL 180 Pinot Noirs
currently available from California wineries. Each of these magazines costs
around US $25 a year. -- Max Hauser