TorontoWine.Com

your guide to wine in the city

Wine Publications

This page has four sections:

	Canadian Magazines
	Canadian Newsletters
	Toronto Newspaper & Magazine Columns
	Foreign Publications

For information on recommended books and where to find them, visit the Books page.

Canadian Magazines

Vines Magazine is a national consumer magazine, based in Ontario, aimed at Canadians who buy, drink, and enjoy wine and food on a regular basis. It is particularly strong on Canadian content, especially the Niagara area.  It has in depth profiles on wine regions, regular food articles, and a "sip and spin" feature in which record reviews also feature a companion wine. It is published six issues a year and costs $9.95.
 

Wine Access is based in Calgary and profiles wines from around the world and features in-depth articles on wineries, vineyards, and winemakers plus food and wine pairings, wine news updates, and monthly reviews of products available at LCBO and Vintages.  It is published six times a year and costs $35.

Tidings is the house magazine for the Opimian Society  It has a food and wine focus and is published eight times a year.

Elite Wine, Food & Travel is published quarterly by Enoteca Publishing Inc.  Its annual subscription is $14.  Its three fundamental themes of wine, food and travel are explored in each issue.

Canadian Newsletters

Wine Align is a community based service for reviewing, sharing and discovering wine.  It provides a detailed product review of the bi-weekly Vintage releases.  Wines are reviewed by a panel of expert wine critics (John Szabo and David Lawrason in particular) using the 100 point scoring system.  It also has a food match tool, posts blogs, and facilitates discussion forums.  A yearly subscription is $40.

Vintage Assessments  is another service providing a detailed product review of Vintages releases.  It is compiled monthly by Michael Vaughan.  Ratings are based on a maximum of three stars ***.  It also provides news of upcoming events.  An annual E-Mail subscription currently costs $75.  The postal edition costs $130.  

Natalie MacLean  provides a free newsletter and lots of useful information via her website Nat Decants on what is going on in the wine world.  See also Online Ordering for "buying wine" services she provides.   
 

Frank Baldock provides a personal guide to great-tasting wines from around the world with news, reviews, tasting notes, columns, recipes, bargains and unbiased recommendations.  Frank is an international wine writer and educator, wine judge and industry consultant, and longtime President of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada.

Michael Pinkus reviews Ontario wines in a free bi-weekly newsletter.  He is a member of the Wine Writers' Circle of Canada.

For something completely different, try Dr Deacon Fresh who is renowned for his irreverence.

Toronto Newspaper & Magazine Columns

Foreign Publications

Wine Spectator:  A very comprehensive California based magazine.  The cost for Canadian subscribers is US$58.85 including GST for 16 issues.  There are also online options for the magazine itself, the website or both.  It is somewhat biased towards Californian wines but worth an occasional read.  Several LCBO stores have single copies.  Wine Spectator issues an "Award of Excellence" to restaurants with a high quality cellar.  Refer to Wine Spectator Restaurant Picks for Toronto selections.

Wine & Spirits Magazine is the main alternative to Wine Spectator.  The cost for Canadian subscribers is US$39.95 for eight issues however there does not appear to be any Canadian content at the time of writing.  For example, they have a feature entitled CityScene which reviews restaurants, wine bars etc. for over 40 cities and/or states across the USA however Toronto is not listed.

Wine X is a quirky / edgy online publication based in Santa Rosa, California.  Their byline is "wine food and an intelligent slice of vice".  It is geared to Gen X readers and apart from wine, has regular features on music, fashion, videos, books and travel.  They are currently not taking any new subscriptions.

Decanter is UK based and published monthly.  Modestly described on its web site as the world's best wine magazine, it features well known writers such as Michael Broadbent and Steven Spurrier.  Check their website for current subscription.

Wine Advocate  is a bimonthly newsletter produced by Robert Parker, the leading USA wine critic.  Parker's wine ratings are extremely influential and are quoted world wide.  The newsletter is available by airmail only for CAN$90 a year.  Alternatively, you can sign up for Robert Parker Online for US$99 a year.

Jancis Robinson's purple pages is  the members only section of her website.  It contains thousands of pages of tasting notes inside information, fine wine facts,  as well as the very lively and intelligent members' forum, described as ‘the most courteous wine forum on the planet’ by La Revue du Vin de France, and exclusive online access to the entire, multi award-winning Oxford Companion to Wine.  The annual subscription is currently US$119.

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