Wine People

Arthur. P. Johnson's site opens playfully with a child's cartoon drawing and an invitation to ‘Come on in!'. Inside, however, this is a rather sophisticated production, with a sleek, low-key feel and many extended pieces of serious writing on wine, as well as lots of tasting notes, wine recommendations and profiles of some prominent figures in the world of wine. Johnson's opinions are balanced and he clearly knows his wine. The writing style is casual but informed, and Johnson regains some of that opening screen's playfulness in his wine descriptions: ‘This wine isn't quite so classy to start with and her voice starts to crack by the end of the evening, but in between she sings some very pretty notes.'



Navigation is rather good, with the consistent use of a navigation panel running down the left-hand side of each screen and repeated at the bottom of longer pages. Only one section of the site — the ‘Photo Album' — breaks out into a different format, but a button takes you back to the main site.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Interviews The interviews are with top people in the wine industry: wine-makers, distributors and merchants. These are almost exclusively Americans, and occasionally the interviews dwell on topics — of local legislation, or geography — that are a little bit obscure for those of us outside the US. Otherwise these in-depth and revealing conversations with some fascinating characters make absorbing reading, and all are illustrated with good quality photographs.


Articles Several of the pieces collected here are not so much fully fledged articles as brief musings based around notes from themed wine tastings, such as ‘Great White Wonders of 1999'. There are, however, several highly original and more thought-provoking pieces of writing. ‘Johnson's Law of Expectations' for example is a tongue-in-cheek look at the disappointments and delights of the wine drinker. Johnson's basic formula is ‘P = 2R - E'. As he explains: ‘P is Pleasure, R is Results and E is Expectation. So let's say you have a bottle of 1982 Margaux. Your Expectations are 96. Your Results are 86. But your actual Pleasure is only a measly 76, because it falls so short of your high expectations. Conversely, let's say you open a 1980 Clerc-Milon. Your Expectations are 79. Your Results, a very respectable 85. But your Pleasure, by my law, registers a lofty 91, because your expectations were so happily exceeded.'


Tasting Notes Johnson presents his notes chronologically, and as he says himself ‘I realize this is a royal pain for folks simply seeking a recommendation for a good Chardonnay' so he also provides a search facility. His notes cover wines from around the globe and are reliable. Stars are awarded for each wine, and often a little bit of background information is provided as well as an orthodox tasting note.


Under $16 Obviously this would be a little more useful if the wines were all available in Britain, and British prices and stockists were quoted. Nevertheless, many of the wines are familiar names on British supermarket shelves and Johnson has a shrewd eye for a good wine deal. As he says, ‘not just good for the money, but good, period.'


OTHER FEATURES


The Photo Album is a small gallery of images from California's wine country. These conjure up the sunshine and relaxed ambiance of the area, and some carry captions to put them in context. Event Calendar concerns itself with non-commercial events on the West Coast. Wine Links has in-depth profiles of several wine sites, plus links to many others.