The Wine FAQ
The Wine FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a no- nonsense resource that aims to provide succinct explanations and factual information on a whole host of wine-related subjects. Whilst it did indeed start life as a series of questions and answers, it has evolved into a pretty comprehensive encyclopedia of wine data and has lost its strict question/answer format. This allows more flexibility. The writing style is factual and quite casual, but there is good information and it's very easy to spend half an hour browsing through the material.
The author, Bradford Brown, is modest about his knowledge and puts a caveat emptor sign right up front, reminding readers that he is an enthusiast, not a learned professor or wine professional. Having said that, we found the information to be accurate and unbiased.
The opening screen has links to the brief overviews of the site and its creators (under the Welcome and Design tags), but the guts of the Wine FAQ are accessed by clicking Table of Contents or Index. These two options allow you to use the site in two distinct and flexible ways. The former can be employed simply to browse through the material, reading topics in a logical and progressive fashion. This makes for a comprehensive educational experience that would be an ideal primer for the beginner. The latter, encyclopedia-like approach is extremely useful as a quick reference guide: if you come across a wine-related term that's unfamiliar, use this A-Z as a quick look-up facility.
Load speeds are quite good. The site is just a few large text files which are accessed at appropriate places from the index. The original site is in California; the website address given above is a mirror site at the University of Bath. Much of the reference data is fairly static, but entries are updated and expanded occasionally.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Wine FAQ This section is nothing more than a computerised version of an exhaustive encyclopedia of wine reference material. This material ranges from succinct lists and tables of data (like a rundown on grape varieties) to more opinionated pieces on controversial subjects like cork-taint in wines. There are also more extensive, discursive pieces on topics such as ‘What is Wine?' or ‘Aging Wine' that act as useful and comprehensive guides for the wine novice.
The author, Bradford Brown, is modest about his knowledge and puts a caveat emptor sign right up front, reminding readers that he is an enthusiast, not a learned professor or wine professional. Having said that, we found the information to be accurate and unbiased.
The opening screen has links to the brief overviews of the site and its creators (under the Welcome and Design tags), but the guts of the Wine FAQ are accessed by clicking Table of Contents or Index. These two options allow you to use the site in two distinct and flexible ways. The former can be employed simply to browse through the material, reading topics in a logical and progressive fashion. This makes for a comprehensive educational experience that would be an ideal primer for the beginner. The latter, encyclopedia-like approach is extremely useful as a quick reference guide: if you come across a wine-related term that's unfamiliar, use this A-Z as a quick look-up facility.
Load speeds are quite good. The site is just a few large text files which are accessed at appropriate places from the index. The original site is in California; the website address given above is a mirror site at the University of Bath. Much of the reference data is fairly static, but entries are updated and expanded occasionally.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Wine FAQ This section is nothing more than a computerised version of an exhaustive encyclopedia of wine reference material. This material ranges from succinct lists and tables of data (like a rundown on grape varieties) to more opinionated pieces on controversial subjects like cork-taint in wines. There are also more extensive, discursive pieces on topics such as ‘What is Wine?' or ‘Aging Wine' that act as useful and comprehensive guides for the wine novice.
COMMENTS
login to add a comment...The wine FAQ is widely regarded as one of the best wine reference works on the Web. This is not a flashy site. It is very straightforward in its presentation, a little old-fashioned in its look and feel and it makes no attempt to get out there and grab your attention. What you have is an extremely useful and well-informed reference work that you can take down off the shelf, dust off and use whenever you need to. A very valuable resource.
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