Back to the wine for a second. Why the 2006 Cambia Julia’s over the 2007?

I agree that the hold on scores of traditional mags, including mine, is loosening. Or perhaps broadening is the correct word. And, of course, traditional print is no longer the same. All of those rags have significant online presences and revenues from subscribers who get their wine reviews electronically rather than in print.

But the real question is will it ever be replaced? Tom Merle argues that lumped scores from consumers, ala Zagat or TripAdvisor, will make the mags obsolete. I am less convinced of that.

Whether the mags will be obsolete is really not the issue. It is whether expert commentary, even from self-appointed folks, as Tom P likes to call them, will be replaced. To that point, I would argue that it will not be.

There will be new entrants to the field, and new ways to deliver that content, but I am guessing that there will always be a fee for service arrangement of some sort because the time and money aspects are, as you have personally experienced, not insignificant.