Our survey and results in total comprise:
Very brief survey of your wishes
Brief survey results – part 1 (frequency of emails to you)
Brief survey results – part 2 (how to improve the mobile version)
Brief survey results – part 3 (general appreciation)
Brief survey results – part 4 (specifics we can help with immediately)
Brief survey results – part 5 (suggestions for how we operate)
Our final collection of your valuable suggestions, for which we are very grateful, concerns what we write about (as opposed to how the site operates, which was the focus of Part 5). As you might expect, there are inevitably contradictions between the wishes of 1,582 anonymous respondents, particularly since we know that members of Purple Pages live in as many as 100 different countries.
We have tried to group together similar comments but, as before, we have not edited respondents' comments. Our job will be to try to steer the best course for the majority without forgetting the needs of a vocal minority.
Content
More re- reviews of mature bordeaux/burgundy at maturity
I realize this would be laborious, but I would love to have access to more frequent updates and revised assessments of how past vintages of Bordeaux and Burgundy are faring.
More articles on red bordeaux esp mature vintages
More follow-up tastings/re-ratings of what are now older wins.(10+ years).
Updates on old wines would be interesting – back to 1970/80/90s
More 'inside info' trade news, rumours, opinions etc to complement the great wine reviews. Also keep expanding the 'food' side with Restaurants, Richard etc, I suspect most of us wine fans are also restaurant fans – we certainly are. Also – more 'events' i recall a fabulous champagne tasting at the German Gymnasium, Kings Cross about 2 years ago. We regularly attend Berry Bros and Wine Society Events but would get even more from a tasting or similar and hearing from Jancis. Thanks Jeff
would you kindly bring more information on wines and the trends in the wine world as the jancis team must be very well positioned to do so best regrads, Jon
Perhaps more trade-specific content/advice/best-practice?
More profiles of producers especially French Italian German
More champagne... :)
More information on champagne -
In depth educational articles – eg focus on piemonte or clos de vougeot, explaining grape varieties, wines, top producers and any anomalies within appellation
Alert members where great wines can be found at reasonable prices
More news about Spanish wines
More retrospective tastings of the classics from Spain (areas where you use to provide less coverage as well) would be great, thank you
It would be nice to have a few article listing cheaper wines that are readily available in the UK, perhaps with a theme. Sometimes I find the number/depth of the articles slightly overwhelming and just want a quick blast of inspiration. But overall, good work!
Reduce content. Focus on tastings.
Allow comments, make it much more interactive
I am very interested in learning about wine regions. Please include general information as well as the latest trends / developments etc. Many thanks for keeping us informed.
More technical articles and items about wine making and grape growing.
This site has a tremendous amount of information. I would suggest first have any updated clearly marked as new information in the Oxford Companion section (separated or different color, etc,). It would also be nice to cover new aspects of differnet regions around the world. I am a DWS student through the WSET and frequent this site. Great resource.
Better search functionality. Links from reviews (including in cellar tracker, which is my primary access route) to related articles.
More linking between articles, tasting notes and Oxford companion entries.
More information on attractive deals/good pricing Tips on what wines to buy if after certain styles (e.g. "chocolatey", "spicy" etc.)
Shorter articles
Tying in what you suggest with research findings on a given topic, as I publish frequently on experts' reliability of wine quality (e.g., Janxcis (whom I adore) vs Parker (not so much)
Like a lot of people I am a creature of habit when it comes to online content. It might be worth Jancis posting all of her tasting notes for a week on one day (say a Thursday) to create a "cyclical" feel with a little bit of anticipation which will draw people to the site on that day. I live in NZ now, but I never ever miss the updated online version of my local weekly newspaper from Ireland – I visit it every Friday morning without fail.
Be a bit braver.
Not crazy about reading wines found at particular store
Restaurant ratings
Would be good to have more frequent New World coverage – particularly what is going on in Chile, Australia
Revise and update information of wine regions – instant expert
More regular tasting notes on french wines outside Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhone.
I can only encourage you to shift the emphasis away from top end bordeaux and burgundy as I have stopped buying it and moved on. I look at this as an opportunity to discover new areas rather than feeling particular outrage but I can buy really interesting and fine wines from other areas at less than 1/3 of the price of a reasonable GCC. It's great that the coverage of Italy and Spain has been beefed up. But keep exploring the wine world for us and finding interesting wines at all prices.
Talk more about unknown wineries/regions, less about superstars
With difficulty. Some of the threads in the main forum appear to attract obsessives. In particular, it is very tiresome to have people, not merely banging on about their own vinous interests, but rubbishing, or talking down, those of others. No names, no pack drill. My main concern is that you should not slacken in your commendable attention to more traditional areas of interest (Bordeaux especially). Also, it seems like a long time since there was anything on the site about vintage port, admittedly not the most fashionable of beverages at the moment.
Give more information on fair priced wines available for more or less current drinking. Age prohibits buying for laying down !!
I would prefer more coverage of California/Oregon/Washington wines. Currently you seem to cover mostly the very well known, very high cost wines from that region.
More relevance to mainland europe wine industry
More : In depth articles, recommendations and tastings on important wine regions of the world. Specifically wines of great interest to people who purchase them an are members for that reason. Bordeaux does not get nearly enough coverage – The 2009 and 2010 vintages of Bordeaux by most accounts are two of the most important vintages in several decades – specific articles about which wines are the best, what a collector with a good cellar (like myself) should anticipate to wait for maturity, how various areas faired compared to others. Even the American Publication which I feel has an extreme bias towards Californian wines and a bias against Bordeaux (WINE SPECTATOR) just released extensive ratings, recommendations and comments about the 2010 vintage. Other regions that are of interest, are Northern and Southern Rhone, Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto, Alsace, Germany, Tokaii, Champagne, Spain, Napa and USA, Argentina and Chile. While there may be a great deal of public interest in say the best bottle of wine under $10 from Romania, I would venture that the majority of those who pay to be members could care less about such wine. I would much rather hear about which Sauternes (which you are one of the most respected tasters in the world!) I should buy, or which Pomerol you believe will develope into an extraordinary wine, or which Chateau Neuf du Pape readers should be seeking out.
More on wines of the Yonne and Argentina. Also make more of a feature of your GV wines.
Add a regular video feature of Jancis and/or team discussing the current issues in the wine world or recent tastings or perhaps an informal 'round-table' meeting of Team Jancis discussing what wine-related stories have attracted their interest in the past week/month.
More information on the wines available from the Wine Society and small independent resellers.
Some personal experiences from the well travelled Team would be appreciated highlighting the highs and lows of the people behind the great wines and the lesser wines you come acroos. The human element in wine can at times be missing.
I use JR.com not only for new vintages but particularly for older vintages of Bordeaux and the Rhone in order to see how the wines have developed and when one can start drinking them. More regular tastings of older vintages would be welcome as would be a more extensive coverage of older German vintages, particularly the Moselle and Rheingau.
More tastings of Loire, Alsace and south of France wines
I think the 'coverage' can be limited to the top range wines and so sometimes I am looking for you comments on something a little less expensive and cannot find them.For example this week I was trying to decide whether or not to bring to my home cellar a case of Louis Jadot Vosne Romanee 2009 that I purchased en premier via BBR but there was only info' on Jadots premier crus. I depend upon your advice to decide the best drinking 'window' for my wines. Of course with so many wines on the market there is a limit but I would have thought the above worthy of notes. One of the best books I have read was JR's "vintage time charts" and from that and my own experience I know you need to be tasting all the time to be sure of getting the best 'window' and although it is fun to try wine at different stages of it's evolution I want to get the best from at least 75% of any case. Following on from that it would be very useful to have more follow up tastings of wines you have previously scored highly (say 17 and above) to support above. I appreciate that many of the wines are only 'scored' at tastings when the domaines bring them to London but would have thought many top domaines would be happy to send odd bottles for your tastings after (say) 5 years of evolution. I would be willing to pay an extra fee for such a service providing it was not too much.So perhaps you could pay the Domaines something for these follow up bottles albiet if I was confident in my wine I would be more than happy for the JR team to try them again and who knows the values might increase. e.g.,Tardieu Laurant 2008 white Hermitage which you recently re-tasted.To my delight the case I have was worth (a lot) more than I paid en premier! After all if one is regularly drinking a £40+ bottle it is worth getting it at it's best.
Maybe better referral to specific questions or information eg Pinot Noir from the Pfalz or Women Winemakers of the World or floral wine labels eg Georges Duboeuf or Yalumba Organic Viognier--What others ?
Hello, Please give us more information about SPARKLING WINES MADE BY TRADITIONAL, CHAMPAGNE METHOD in different countries.
My only interest (and reason for subscribing) is Burgundy; so, if I find anything to read about Burgundy (red), I am happy. The rest does not really concern me.
JR, keep up the good work, and thanks for asking. I would enjoy receiving more information about what is going on in supermarket wines, as they are easy to pop into a basket during the week having read a summary of what they are like, plus they are not too much of an 'investment'. It doesn't have to be a major article, a red and a white, perhaps with links to earlier in depth articles about the wine region for if I have more time to read and a pointer to if you liked that style which higher quality brands of the wine to look out for from specialist wine shops or on the wine list. So many of my friends believe having an interest in wines is all about expensive bottles, when it is not. Please, more articles about what ladies are doing in the wine world. More maps of where the wine is from. Articles where particular aspects of wine can be explored to learn to taste better eg recommending 2 or 3 wines that, for example, illustrate how tannin affects texture, or a winemaking technique comes through on one and it is not in the other.
A list of short summaries of the potential quality of vintages of the main wine regions in Europe would be useful. They could be provided in the spring for the previous vintage. For example, I make a lot of use of Hugh Johnson's comments about vintages when I am thinking about buying some wine. Another view of vintages would be helpful.
I would like say an annual article on what vintages, especially of French wine, are ready or about to be ready
It is very good already. I would like to see more on Bordeaux classed growths and how they are developing.
I find it quite excellent. From my personal point of view more emphasis on Alsace would suit.
Tasting notes could have more information. It would be great to have the book of "Wine Grapes" on the website, same as the "Oxford Companion".
More coverage of less prestigious wines/growers. We are about to take another driving holiday in France, and will bring back 10-15 dozen bottles, and will rely on Guide Hachette.
More focus on disseminating information about wines not yet widely known to the general public.
I have discontinued Decanter, because there is a pile of 4-6 issues sitting by my chair unread. However, I do enjoy the "potted" recommendations of the month from Stephen Spurrier (along the bottom of his 2-page spread) and the one-pager later on. I always look to see if there are any recommended fine wines at the supermarkets or M&S – if only to try something new. I fear that may be a bit low-brow for you, but a synopsis of widely available wines would be welcome, where you taste them.
Many serious collectors, including me, focus mainly on France. We all have too 1. 1 much wine and not enough evenings and friends to drink it all. So I spare myself too much involvement in Argentina, Spain even Italy, USA etc. Though NZ Pinot Noir matters. Problem: Bordeaux, Burgundy R and W, Rhone are increasingly expensive for known names, so I would like more focus on excellent bottles from France at less than £20-25. So more Gigondas, Cairanne, Vacqueras, less CNP and more Bordeaux and Burgundy at this price level.
It's already very nice and professional, thank you for all! Perhaps two things I'd be interested in: a. tastings appear sometimes to be a bit UK-centric b. maybe the coverage of small and ambitious producers could be extended.
More information/tasting on mature burgundies. Barrel samples just aren't very useful 2. Being more thoughtful about grading sometimes feel like fine wine effectively operates within a very, very tight band (16-18)
Review supermarket special offers
I find the fora a little inaccessible. I'm not sure there's much you can do about that, although when theer are useful interesting answers provided by people it might be good to perhaps add them to a "FAQ" section or something similar. If there is one already sorry that I haven't found it.....
I would like more tasting notes of older wines. Also some wines tasted / rated en premier are not tased / rated in the bottle (i.e. Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 2009) and it would be interesting to get a final rating.
Profiles of some of your members, their views on wine, their collection and wine buying.
More reviews of specific merchants' ranges; particularly those small ones who import wines direct. They deserve more support.
I am a burgundy freak and perhaps you can devote greater coverage to the less famous makers where reviews are quite scarce such as Seguin Manuel, Roblet-Monnot, Bertagna, Jean Marc Pillot etc.
The tasting notes are excellent however seem to be driven by the wines you are given to taste so not all years of iconic wines are covered. So I think you should seek out these wines to complete the picture i.e. no notes for the 2000 or 2003 Penfolds Grange.
More wine tourism ideas.
I would like very much less en primeur labour and very much more follow up ratings on bottles reliably in bottle a few years. An old rant of mine. you do better here on Bordeaux. 3. Why not favour 50 or so excellent value Rhone, Bordeaux and Burgundy in a new continuing section of value for money French trying to make it nearly ready to drink and try to keep it updated and help with finding it, eg recommend Winesearcher. A section for enthusiasts who cannot usually justify buying famous names or waiting 10+ years. This section would be a huge success, I think. It might be less comprehensive than you are, thank goodness, but it would be amazingly helpful and genuinely practical. Some of your work is too academic for the average enthusiast, lots of fun to have for reference or a rainy day but not leading to action and pleasure and continuing subscriptions by "real" people. None of my drinking group (only 8 but well off and enthusiastic) subscribe to JR or ever would without more focus on value and ready to drink. I suppose you could argue, let them drink OZ, Chile, Argentina etc but they really want France. The dramatic but understandable price changes over the last 7-8 years is making your work less valuable to most people.
I buy/taste/drink wine from a fairly wide range of wineries/grape varieties. JR wine ratings are not (I suspect by intention) very extensive on USA wines – especially – Oregon/Washington. From my standpoint – if you do increase your coverage – best to concentrate on those wines which are most popular or controversial or typical to the consumer – e.g. ratings of Sauvignon Blanc which would permit comparison (e.g. of the JR aesthetic/bias) with how other raters (Parker, Tanzer, Wine Spectator, Decanter) rate/cross compare the SauBlancs from Sancerre, NZ, Oregon, California. It's like the movies – how do the gurus from UK, FR, USA, AUS, and NZ react to Zero Dark 30 or Amilee – like it, hate it, luke warm – the why is interesting of course, but, the headline reaction at minimum can save one 2 boring hours. Oh, I like the disagreements. Let's not let all our mutual respect for all the other world mobile/famous critics (not to mention, overlapping corporate events, tours, agents, and professional infrastructure elements) get in the way of sharing with readers and drinkers the aesthetic disagreements. Even, the public critic disputes can be educational and profitable (e.g. USA pro wrestling, or Derrida vs. James Wood). Finally – I'm not unaware that JR ratings are likely the key marketing (i.e. money making) element in the JR website – so that "sharing" across other competitive outlets may be a expensive money losing pain to the balance sheet -- but from my selfish standpoint – CT with JR is best of both worlds. One more thing – I'm most unimpressed with the JR ratings on Piedmontese wines – they seem rare, brief, and, at least in the ratings library pretty conventional and even odd. Yes, yes you do provide the vintage roundup articles, but, I'm not finding regular and consistent uploading of the roundups into the rating segment, or coverage wise: good coverage of the flood of USA marketed Barolos; so few opinions of same in JR ratings – note: even the strange (to me) ratings by JR Team members are welcome. I should add – what even more words? – that in USA, I frequently buy online from the "flash" marketeers (WineTilSoldOut, Lot18, WineAccess) and the by mail outlets (HDH-Chicago, RareWine-Sonoma, ChambersStreet-NYC) – and thereby – get a rain storm of ad-emails daily. Quick online reference to CT, and JR – plus all my other (way too much) ratings subscriptions (Burghound, Parker, Tanzer, Sucking, Liem, Juhlin, M-Cooper, WineSearcher--a fantastic cross referencing) give me a quick read on what the "pros" think – then, of course, I make my own completely independent and informed judgment on buy or no-buy (hmmmm...sure). Anyway – so, I have a strong/selfish bias to easy/quick access to multiple ratings. Oh, and one more bone to pick: I disgree with Nick's review of the French Laundry – a few years back. No, I'm not a widely experienced customer of top flight eateries – tho I'm near Chicago, IL and sample the Michilin stars there – I and guests had a wonderful 3 hours at FL in 2011, especially the sommelier – who tailored our tasting menu meal to my rather modest wine budget. But, game on, perhaps a traveling food rating fellowship for Mr. Nick – roaming the wide American eating scene – Wendy's to Next – a la Charles Dickens knocking about the ex-colonies I forsee discovery of bad manners, bad food, bad animal fats, bad decor, but, charming endorsement of the "French fries" at 5 Guys -- oh how we Americans enjoy a good raking. Salut.