Guide (Best-Of & Ratings)

First time?  I’ll be gentle, I promise!

Welcome to 1WineDude.com!  Thanks for visiting.  You look great, by the way – did you cut your bangs?

Anyway, this site exists to help you learn more about wine.  I primarily try to do this by a) entertaining you, b) providing useful information to you, and c) (hopefully) making you laugh along the way.

Let’s start by agreeing that, no matter what you’ve heard, learning to appreciate wine does not have to be daunting, expensive, or reserved for some strange elite with magical noses.  You can learn to appreciate wine just as you can food, cooking, music, or anything else that you enjoy.

This site can help you do that.

Take a look around, leave some comments, offer your feedback, but don’t stay too long or your boss might catch you surfing on the job, ok?  Here are a few things on the site that you might want to check out first:

For the FTC folks

Unless otherwise noted, any product reviewed on 1WineDude.com is a sample.  Every article on this blog is produced without compensation from any party whatsoever.

The Ratings

You might have noticed that my twitter wine ‘mini’ reviews are also posted weekly to the blog and that each review contains a rating that mirrors the ‘report card’ A-F grade format.  Here’s how those ratings work:

Rating Description 100 Point Scale “Equivalent”
(for those that need it)
A- to A+ An Excellent to Extraordinary wine, worth seeking out at nearly any price. 93 – 100
B- to B+ An Above Average to Very Good wine, usually fairly priced and worth a buy. 85 – 92
C- to C+ An Average wine.  Buy it if you’re a fan of the style, producer or variety, and you’re looking for a simple sipper. 75 – 84
D- to D A Below-Average to Poor wine.  There is no D+ (hopefully I don’t have to explain that one).  Avoid. 70 – 74
F An Affront to wine-making.  Avoid & possibly write your congressman so this stuff doesn’t get made again (no +/- for reasons that should be obvious). < 74

There are important differences between my system and most 100-point scoring rating systems:

  • I rarely taste wines blind (because you don’t drink them that way). This means that things like typicity of variety, place of origin, and price can and do affect the overall rating that I give.  An overpriced wine (in my view) might receive a “minus” as part of the grade, for example. I like to know everything I can about a wine EXCEPT for price and tasting notes before I taste it.
  • I don’t review every wine sent to me.  I wish I could, and if I “turn pro” someday than I might.  but as of now,  I can’t, because I usually review them in what I consider a comprehensive way – there isn’t enough time in the day for me to do that for all wines.  I also just get and taste too many wines to review that way. Sorry, but it’s just not possible (until cloning becomes more economically viable, anyway).

Anatomy of a “Mini-Review”

Friend Me Up

If you’re a social-networking type, friend me up on any of the following networks (twitter & facebook work best, for me anyway):

Before you ask – yes, I am fully aware that this site looks like crap in IE 6.  I don’t need to fix it – you need to upgrade.

Oh, yeah, before I forget – all the photos of me that appear on the blog have been digitally enhanced to make my nose appear bigger.

Cheers!