The Wine Trials

The book team blind tested 560 wines (including at least some expensive ones), used a good statistics methodolgy that discounted the opinions of people who ranked the same wine differently, and concluded that there were lots of cheap wines that were well liked by the testers (which included "chefs, food professionals, wine distributors, wine professionals, and everyday wine drinkers invited by the editors" The review below is false when it claims "Only one expensive wine is mentioned in the entire book." In fact, the book states on page 8: "tasters preferred a nine dollar Beringer Founder's Estate Cabernet to a 120 dollar Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet." Also on page 8 "They preferred a Vinho Verde to a Cakebread Chardonnay and a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru from Louis Latour." Page 21 "the Segura Viudas Brut and the Freixnet beat both Dom Perignon and Veuve Cliquot." The reviewer below obviously didn't even bother to flip through the book. The Wine Trials team seems to have tasted a number of expensive wines. Although it would be nice if they would reveal the whole list of the 560 wines that they tasted. (They could do that on their website for instance.) And I'd also like to see what the top wines were regardless of price as the book only lists wines under fifteen dollars. It's odd that they don't share that information. Perhaps the "Fearless Critic" was a little fearful of the expensive wine producers? The book also has a good discussion of their testing methodology and other past wine tests and the placebo effect. Overall an interesting read and a useful reference although I wish they had more info on expensive wines.

A job well done with very good results for wine lovers. The world of wine is fascinating, because of the experience in tasting it and the ever growing knowledge acquired by it. I believe there should be more studies like the one behind this book. It is about time the truth comes out. Just think about how many mediocre wines are overpriced these days. I understand upstanding wines at very high prices. Making wine is an expensive process. Unfortunately, wine lovers end out buying names instead of good wine. This book helps a great deal to select quality wine at fair prices. I wonder if the authors plan to continue doing this, at least once every two years. Because in two years or less, it will be difficult if not impossible to find the good wines featured in this book. With regard to the picks from the book, I have tried a few and there are definitely great wines at affordable prices. By the way, some stores, at least the ones I visit, are raising their prices due to the accuracy of this book. Look forward to more non-bias wine tasting books such the "trials". I am really thankful...

Robin Goldstein is a gadfly. He's notorious for submitting a wine menu from a fictitious restaurant to Wine Spectator magazine and earning the magazine's "Award of Excellence." Yet the "reserve wine list" from his menu listed wines earning some of the lowest scores from the magazine over the previous 20 years. "The Wine Trials" takes on the commonly used 50- to 100-point wine rating system. Goldstein asks whether the ratings are biased by price, label, and advertising. His tests show that they are, sometimes hugely. Goldstein wanted to know how cheaper wines - below $15 - rated against more expensive ones, in the $50 to $150 range, and each other in blind, brown-bag tastings. Over several months in 2007 and 2008, he held tastings of 560 wines for everyday wine drinkers and experts. Many of the cheap wines excelled and surpassed the expensive ones. The result is a set of ranked lists of 100 wines for under $15 by general type -- heavy red, light red, heavy white, light white, etc. -- and by location -- Europe and the "New World" (the Americas, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand). Each of the ranked wines also gets its own description. I've tried several of the top-ranked wines, and they are delicious, some from small, unadvertised labels and some from big producers. As a buying guide, this is a very useful book, by far the most useful I've seen in a long time. Goldstein's jaundiced look at the wine business, especially the conventional wine rating business, is a bonus. The book doesn't pretend to be anything like Karen MacNeil's "The Wine Bible" or others in that category. You won't find here detailed descriptions of individual wine grapes, wine growing regions, famous bottlers, characteristics of the terroir, or that kind of information. "The Wine Trials" is all about the unbiased drinking experience. These two books, "The Wine Trials" and "The Wine Bible," have different aims and complement each other well. But just to find inexpensive, drinkable wines, "The Wine Trials" is more useful.

This is hands down the best book out there for the casual value-conscious wine drinker. Goldstein and Herschkowitsch have hit the nail on the head. The book uses honest reports from blind tastings staffed by regular people and experienced tasters. The book uses data from these tastings to tell you how to shop for quality wines when on a budget. You can see that the big vineyards have no influence on the ratings, as some of the highest rated wines are from small producers. I take it with me now on every trip to the wine shop. Well Done!

If you have ever walked into a grocery or liquor store to buy a bottle of wine and felt completely at a loss as to what's worth trying and what's not this is the book for you. Pros: Large selection of wines under $15.00 taste-tested by over 500 volunteers. There is a section which ranks the taste-tested wines within each wine category and another alphabetical section which assigns a one-page review for each taste-tested wine. If you are into it, there are several sections on the background of and process used for the taste-testing. Cons: The book is too big to slip in your pocket and use unobtrusively when actually shopping for wine. An included tear-sheet or separate quick-guide listing the wines ranked within each category would be helpful.