Does anyone else read Wine Spectator?

If so, could you please explain the target audience and purpose of this issue on "The World of Food"? http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Current_Issue

I scanned it and started to do a critique which was going to be voluminous and then started to think about it and got to wondering. Who exactly is a five page overview of the cuisines of Asia supposed to inform, or add useful info to? The whole thing is so high level and combines so many different areas and cuisines into these short sections, that I cannot imagine anyone exists who is interested in a cuisine and does not already know a lot more than is in this piece.

Okay, I really understand the target - the piece is about 50 pages, and 25 are ads, so it is clearly a great feature for WS. But if anyone else has taken a look at this, please explain it to me.[/i]

I think that the Wine Speculator has made an effort over the last couple of years to become more of a "lifestyle" magazine. They have been criticized for being too elitest in their coverage (here is our review of a $300 per person restaurant that we did while drinking $500 bottles of wine in case you want to do the same), so they seem to be trying to broaden their appeal. I didnt like the piece either, but I had the opposite reaction. I didnt think that it was high level enough. It was so broad and basic (Italy is known for parmesan cheese), that I thought that it was stuff that everyone already knew. I suppose that an international food novice might find it informative, but that person is probably not reading the Speculator. My copy is already in the recycling bin.
-Will

WillG wrote:I didnt like the piece either, but I had the opposite reaction. I didnt think that it was high level enough. It was so broad and basic (Italy is known for parmesan cheese), that I thought that it was stuff that everyone already knew. I suppose that an international food novice might find it informative, but that person is probably not reading the Speculator. My copy is already in the recycling bin.

I think what we have here is a misunderstanding I actually see more and more these days in my workplace. I believe dicksond meant "high level" as in a very general level or the "30,000 foot view" sense, while it appears that you, Will, are referring to "high level" as in a "high level of detail" (i.e., greater granularity).

My SO signed up for Wine Spectator a while back. I do glance through every issue looking for new cooking ideas, but that World of Food thing was not inspiring.

As for who the target audience is, it's probably someone exactly like my SO who is getting interested in wine, would like to start collecting, and will read just about anything that he thinks might be informative. At that entry level, I think it makes sense to promote travel and food and stuff, in other words a whole lifestyle. I think rather than reading magazines we should be traveling to vineyards and visiting wine bars and restaurants with wine pairings, but that requires more time and effort (not to mention money) than flipping through a magazine.

I'll say this...most magazines have terrible issues once in a while, but Marvin almost never puts out an issue this bad. I can only think of one in the past 10 years that was at this abysmal level -- a travel issue about the Caribbean. Marvin has since said that he will never again do a travel-related issue unless it's about a big city or a wine-producing region. I now expect him to make a similar statement about food-related issues...

The name of the magazine is Wine Spectator. Not Food Spectator. Not Travel Spectator. Marvin, stick to what you do best...present wine drinking as part of a desirable, upscale lifestyle. The previous issue about the Southern Rhone was one their best ever, even garnering praise from, of all people, Robert Parker. There's the model for future food/travel issues!

Yes, by high level I did mean it had no detail at all other than what anyone who was sufficiently interested to look at the section would read.

And yes, this is the worst issue I ever looked at. Took me maybe 15 minutes to get through, and it was pretty much a wasted 15 minutes.

WS is a good magazine and was very useful to me to learn about wines as a beginner, but I continue to struggle with how to use it now. Do not want to get caught in the trap of big, young, international-style wines when there are so many other interesting things out there. And I know the information is in there to find those more interesting producers and wines, but I am struggling to get it out without reading every bleeding word of each tasting.