Watch this! On second thought, don't bother...

I like wine. If you know me (and if you're reading this there's a 99.9% chance that you do) then you know I have a bit of a predilection for the Central Coast region of California. Maybe it's because I went to Cal Poly, maybe it's because I'm becoming a really big Zinfandel fan, but whatever the reason, it's what I like.

In the past year I have gone wine tasting in Paso Robles twice and once in the Livermore Valley (not really Central Coast, but definitely non-Napa). I'm certainly starting to develop a well-defined impression of what I like about certain wineries/varietals/vintages and I can even talk intelligibly to the "experts" at various tasting rooms.

I have been buying more wine lately, both when tasting and just in general when I find something I like. Plus, I'm a member of the wine club at Tobin James (my favorite winery in Paso) which means I get 8 bottles sent to me twice a year. Since I'm getting all this extra wine, I figure I might want to invest in one of those wine refrigerator thingys. Mostly because I can't imagine it's a good idea to just keep all my bottles stacked up in a cubbard.

So what's my point? That would be that Wine Spectator sucks.

I wanted to do some research on wine fridges and since WS seems to be a fairly authoritative source I thought I'd go to their website. Well, they suckered me for $7.95, that's for sure:

1. Anything worth looking at or reading on the site requires registration which means $$$. There isn't even a way to get free general ratings about a given winery. It's pretty much "click here, pay me." Lame.


2. Like I said above, I really like Zin and am becoming pretty knowledgable about the Central Coast Zins that are good. When I searched the ratings for 2003 Zins I got a list of wineries I hadn't ever heard of. It's widely recognized that Tobin James and Opulo make some of the best Zin in the region. There weren't any ratings for TJ after 1997. 1997? What the fuck? I'm pretty sure they've made some good wines since then. LameLame.


3. This one is a major irritation when dealing with a site that asks me for money: YOU CAN'T CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ONLINE!!!!!!! What the hell? There isn't even an 800 number posted for me to call and cancel. As far as I can tell I'm on the hook for $7.95 each month for the rest of my life. Now, I know that's not true but it's really irritating that I'm going to have to spend time looking around to figure out how to cancel. The first rule of taking people's money on a website should be: Make it just as easy to cancel as it is to sign up.

Wine Spectator? More like Ass Spectator. Fuck them.