The Wine Anorak

The quality of the writing in this site is generally very good indeed, distinguishing it from many. The author, Jamie Goode, a London-based wine lover, clearly knows and loves his subject. As well as useful facts and figures, there's a lot of personal opinion on this site, but points of view are always well argued and entertaining. There is plenty to read, from tasting notes to long polemics on controversial issues. There is liberal use of high-quality photos, but not too many to make speed of loading a problem.



The attractive homepage features a sidebar with navigation buttons to each of the site's dozen sections. Another set of links to these same sections is positioned centre screen, each with a brief synopsis of what you'll find there. On the right is Don't Miss, a selection of the author's chosen highlights.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Wine UK This is treated like a separate site, with a different colour scheme and its own navigation bar. Information here is of specific interest to UK-based wine lovers, with a useful and extensive list of wine merchants complete with contact details, a set of recommended wines which is updated monthly, and the collected tasting notes of the author, most of which are for wines available on the high street.

Features Features and essays on wine regions, wine-making and issues such as terroir, wine competitions and the status of English wine-making. This is building into a solid body of serious and contemplative writings on wine-related issues, many of which are illustrated.

Wine Photos The author's other passion is utilised with a collection of wine and vineyard photography. The slide show from the world's vine-growing regions is excellent, though the resolution could be higher and the images smaller.

Wine Travel Tales of the author's wine travels through France, California and Australia. These are entertaining and informative, with lots of photos to accompany the text and several addresses which should be very useful if you're planning a wine-related holiday. There's also general advice on wine-touring holidays which pinpoints the regions to visit and warns you of the formalities of visiting the winemakers.

Food and Wine A bit of a mish-mash, with everything from fondue recipes to the author's attempts to find something to go with salmon in Hollandaise sauce. Having said that, the short collection of articles offers some good specific suggestions as well as general guidelines.


OTHER FEATURES


Tasting Notes on inexpensive and moderately priced wines from around the world are reliable and are presented categorised by region.

The Book Reviews section casts a critical and incisive eye over a dozen or so titles with no holds barred in the author's trustworthy opinions.

Links presents a small but carefully chosen list of wine sites along with the author's brief summary and comments on each.

Controversies is an intriguing-sounding section, but for now merely repeats a selection of the articles also to be found under the Features heading.