Heaven Is A Cellar
"Heaven is a Cellar" is a blog focused on seeking enlightenment through wine exploration. Wine is NOT a commodity. Wine is ART. Art expresses the dynamic world around us... some parts we understand, yet many continue to perplex us. It is this journey to explore our curiosity of the unknown that produces unique, irreplicable experiences. And, you can't quantify an experience.
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Wautasha Wines
Wautasha Wines bottles organic wines and donates $1 from every bottle sold to environmental charities.
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Ashburn Wine Shop
Our skilled staff can help you select great wines for any occasion! We also feature premium beers from around the world, fabulous local cheeses, kegs & more! Available for private events and tastings.
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Righteous Vino
We who write about wine, who share our experiences, our passion, our obsession are ultimately encouraging you to try something new and different. Create your own wine experiences and to tell your own stories. We are guides not authoritarians. It’s about wine education and learning to trust your own sense of taste and smell.
Either the wine is good and honest, or it is not.
- Stay True
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White Heron Cellars
Terroir driven wines since 1986. No wines submitted to Parker, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, or any rating entity since at least 1990.
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TWITs Wine Club
A Wine Club in Atlanta, GA, founded in 2008. We meet monthly to taste wine, gab, snack, and learn. TWITs is all about having fun, trying wines, and growing your palate.
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Le Caveau
Handpicked Old World Wines
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Earth Fare
We are a natural and organic supermarket and our customers are very educated about food issues, we find they do not like a group whom they have no connection with telling them what they should drink.
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The Wine Guy
I am a wine educator and consultant. In my business I constantly find myself defending great wines against the unjust scoring systems. World class wines that are the pure definition of the region at times will not fit the personal profile of the one writing the scores. Thus receiving a poor score. Rarely is it bast on regional/varietal correctness. It's all about that individuals personal taste (or whom ever has given the largest "donation"). It's time to stop the scoring system and let wine be the agricultural product that it has always been.
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The Weekly Crush
We examine wines from lesser known regions of the world and we provide free information and unscored reviews of the wines we find.
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Seler d'Or Wine Consulting
Seler d'Or Wine Consulting: purveyor of Vinous Aesthetics. Certified Sommelier. Enjoyer of Wine, Music, Art, Food. Oh yeah, working hard in terroir-driven wine production.
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los pilares
the most exciting wine in the world is local
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Rain City Wines
We are a local wine merchant in Bothell Washington who actually taste every wine before we purchase them No scores and just a great selection with an in-house dog.
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evilbottle.com
A no bullshit wine blog
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The Dregs
Freedom Fighters on a quest to free the world from Wine Totalitarianism.
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cheapwinefinder.com
You drink wine, you grade math tests
I don’t know how they got those 2 mixed up
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The Trusty Vine
Former vigneron (Willamette Valley) & retailer putting to use my nearly 37 years of wine-making/tasting/sales experience in a new wine blog. The focus will be on natural/organic/biodynamic wines from S. France & Spain + good values from all regions......and best of all: objective reviews with no point scoring!
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50 STATES OF WINE
A man with a plan, a plan to drink wine from each state in the USA! (...and write about everything wine-related along the way.)
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Wine-Diggs
Wine-Diggs was created for the main purpose of discovery new and reasonably priced wine based on the creative label. NOT on points or wine-snobery. Help build this with me!
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Mr. Bill's Wine Cellar
We are a cool wine store of a different sort. Fun and unpretentious. Wine by numbers is ridiculous. It's a bad crutch for sellers and buyers.
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dendorpatton
Wisdom, grew out of one simple mission: two old friends who started together in the early wild days of Mendocino who wanted to make a very small amount of killer Zinfandel for family and friends and use it as the basis of keeping in touch with each other.
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Elkhorn Ridge Vineyards & Winery
I have a 22 acre vineyard in the Willamette Valley, which is planted to Pinot noir, 98% of which is sold to other wineries in Oregon. I produce about 550 cases of Pinot noir, under my own label, which has garnered mnay awards and medals since its first vintage in 2003. As far as my main comment regarding the "100 point score crisis," I'd much rather have my wine judged by 10-15 qualified wine judges, than by one or two, often biased, bean counters! Let's get ride of the "100 point system," as soon as possible, and educate consumers about the true virtues of great wine and what really matters. Taste and complexity!
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Harold Baer
articles about and notes on wines, domestic and foreign
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Mr. Bill's Wine Cellar
We are a cool wine store of a different sort. Fun and unpretentious. Wine by numbers is ridiculous. It's a bad crutch for sellers and buyers.
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Toast! Wine and Spirits
We are a small store and refuse to use ratings to sell wine. In addition, we do not use shelf talkers, we like to consider ourselves the shelf talkers. Wine should be subjective and wine scores are taking the subjectivity out of the equation. It's time we, as buyers and consumers, start using our own palates to determine what is good.
Dancing Vines Vineyard
Grower/Owner of a sustainable Cabernet Franc vineyard in the Columbia Valley AVA. First estate vintage will be 2012.
Memaloose
Great movement! We make food wines, old world style, in the Northwest. Lower alcohol and minimal oak - acidity and structure most of all. The vineyard site and vintage are the joy of it all.
vinarquia
Independent blog wine
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Wine and Wedge
Wine Consultation, Education and Events
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Wine Knows
We are a small family owned wine retail shop. Thus, we purchase wines from smaller family owned wineries and deal with the small family owned distributers.We are not influenced by scores or any kind of rating system. We encourage our customers to decide on their own whether they like it or not. We have no wine rating rags in the store!
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Chateau Chantal
Chateau Chantal offers a wide variety of fine wines, from very dry to lightly sweet, grown on our Old Mission Peninsula vineyards in Northern Michigan. Featuring eleven B&B rooms, daily tours, weekly wine dinners, seasonal cooking classes
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Seattle Wine Exchange
We at Seattle Wine Exchange believe in quality wine for a reasonable price not wine based on a number system.
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Pastoral Artisan Cheeses, Bread and Wine
We are a Cheese shop who champions locally made artisinal products and small batch artisinal wines.
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Guy du Vin
Restaurant Wine Program Consulting & Internet Wine Sales - We offer wines that reflect distinctiveness; that emphasize a connection to their place of origin; and that show true craftsmanship. We focus on wines with elegance and balance. We search for wines that reflect personality and uniqueness, even in the least expensive bottling.
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Big Self Restaurants Inc.
Independent restaurant owner and consultant who has worked harvest and many events in Willamette valley, Oregon
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Vice Reviews
Reviews on Vino, Suds, Cigars, and More
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Wildflower
Boutique restaurant serving new american cuisine and celebrating great wine
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Cellar Angels
Connecting wine lovers everywhere with small, artisan wineries to raise money for exceptional charities. Cellar Angels, where buying wine touches your heart. Sip. Save. Give.
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The Aspiring Gentleman
Scotch, Cigars, Etc.
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costachel.ro
Revista virtuala de gastronomie reala
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DrinkWhatYouLike
Drink What You Like... because scores are lame.
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Domaine Póti
Domaine Póti is an artisan winemaker in in the Mura Valley, Hungary Central Eastern EU. We dont care about scores but produce the wine our customers like and we can be proud of it.
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Waverley Hills Organic wines
Waverley Hills is an organic wine estate in the Tulbagh Valley, South Africa.
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Global Wine Distribution - NJ
Global Wines NJ is an importer/distributor of fine wines from South Africa, Argentina, and Chile.
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Périphérique Wine Merchants
Wine Merchant | Wine Importer | Master Sommelier Selections
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La Clarine Farm
Points suck.
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Beckman Wine Co. SoCal
We have many wines to sell most without any scores. Are success is to taste our buyers which they understand there are great wines without 90 plus rating.
GRAPE to GRAIN
It is not acceptable to assign a numeric value to a Dali or Picasso's work...why then to art in a bottle?
Grape to Grain represents independent producers in the world of national hotel & restaurant chains.
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The Cork Dork Report
I'm just telling you what the wine told me to tell you.
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Cork IT! Magazine
unprententious wine publication designed to educate and inform with a local emphasis. Offering mutliple opinions for the consumers benefit
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Vignerons Catalans
As the main group of producers from the very South of France, our winery produces and brings to the world two thirds of the Roussillon wine production. We are proud to broadcast the extremely rich diversity of terroirs of our region through our AOCs and IGPs.
Diversity is definitely who we are at every level, and we intend to stay that way.
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Water and Wine Ristorante-Taverna
La Griglia Seafood Grill & Wine Bar
The PinotFile
The first online wine newsletter exclusively devoted to Pinot Noir. No scores, no pretentiousness, and no unwarranted criticism. Trust your own palate first, but let the Prince fine tune it. Drink right, join the Crew.
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Godiolo
We are a small artisanal winery in Montepulciano (Siena) and we firmly believe that wine should be a travelling companion and some history book in a glass.
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The ViniCode™
No Wine Ratings! Just the Facts. The ViniCode has been working to help customers understand the often confusing world of wine by removing subjective ratings, and simply describing the wine.
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Living Wines
Importer to Australia of delicious French wines made by small producers who put their hearts and souls into their vines and their wines. They also tend to like a drink and so do we.
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Cork Wine Cafe
A wine bar that passes wine to people from people who pass wine to us that express their unique patch of the world.
Vinofreakism
It's a search.....a search for authentic wines that make me think, that make me laugh with good friends, that work with food, that aren't over-burdened with heavy-handed winemaking and above all, wines that make me want to learn more about the people and places from which they come.
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NorCalWine
NorCalWine.com features the wines and wineries of Northern California in news, original essays and detailed wine reviews. We tell stories, show pictures and enumerate qualities, but we don't give quality a number.
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Vinyer de la Ruca
Everything is done by hand.
In the Pyrenees, overlooking the Mediterranean, on rain-starved soil, surrounded by cork oaks, on shale terraces, among walls of dry stone, wind-buffeted and sun-soaked. Fifty-year-old gobelet of Grenache, priceless as wine, of gold and light.
Banyuls by Vinyer de la Ruca serves beauty and transcendence.
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Jose Pastor Selections
Importer of Artisanal Spanish Wines
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Scott Paul Wines
Producers of hand-crafted old-vine Oregon Pinot Noir, and importers of artisanal Burgundy and Grower Champagne.
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Wine Lab Newport
Wine Bar & Shop
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TerraVino
We believe in wines that are REAL, honestly made in the most natural way.
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The Wine Smarties
We teach people about the world of wines and their palates! From the casual learner to the industry-seeker wanting a formal certification, we teach 'em all!
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Piety Flats Winery
Small Mom and Pop winery producing just over 2000 cases. As stated in the article, there is no such thing as the 100 point rating system. It is the 94 and above. I find it to be a joke.
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Chicago Wine School
As a wine writer and educator for over thirty five years, I have learned that letters--words, more precisely--do more to convey an experience than do numbers. That said, "54:40 or fight" was a pretty snazzy slogan... for its time.
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Mouton Noir Wines
Mouton Noir Wines are unique and distinctive garage wines produced by Andre H. Mack. Founded in 2004, Mouton Noir Wines began producing wines for New York City restaurants for which Andre was the sommelier.
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Herb Lamb Vineyards
A tiny, family owned Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard that produces exceptional wines from the Napa Valley, despite and in spite of what any critic might ever want to say about our wines.
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September Wines
We are a small retail wine boutique in NYC focusing on wines with individuality and character. We have never posted scores as long as we've been in business.
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The Wine Culture Project
Anti-Flavor Elitist preserving wine's sense of place and working to save you from drinking ordinary wine. My role in the wine world is to educate, inform, inspire, awaken and help develop an American wine culture that is less dependent on scores and soulless brands.
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Sonoma Wine Shop & La Bodega
On Sonoma Plaza. 2,000 memberships in our wine and dine club. We have NEVER posted wine scores in our 2 shops. We buy direct from California winemakers and share these wines in daily tastings. Positive customer reaction is the most important validation of great wine.
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Dave's Domaine
Support winemakers who let the vineyard and terroir express itself; winemakers who adapt to the vineyard and the terroir, not the other way around; winemakers who don't view themselves as the wine’s master, but view themselves as the servant of the wine.
It’s more important to taste for yourself than to follow someone else’s palate, preferences, or scoes blindly. And much more fun.
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Harvest Moon Estate and Winery
We are a very small winery nestled in the heart of the Russian River Valley focusing on Estate wines which are lower in alcohol that industry average. Less oak, Less alcohol and lighter body does not mean less flavor or aromas. On the contrary.
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Thewinearray
Helping wine consumers of any type build the vocabulary to understand and speak better of the wines they love to drink, while introducing new wines that match!
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Wine Harlots
Point scores are a tool, but currently they’re being wielded as weapons.
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Billy's Best Bottles
Billy's Best Bottles has been recommending wines for over 30 years, NEVER with a score attached. Instead wines are classified under 6 useful categories – wine by mood. If the wine is right for the situation, it's the best!
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Eric Texier
The Wine Camp Blog
The Wine Camp Blog has been a points free zone since its inception in 2003.
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Castelli Vineyards
Olson Ogden Wines
We are a small production wine company in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, CA. with a focus on Pinot Noir and Rhone varietals. We make wines to enjoy with food, family and friends. Wine should be the background music that facilitates lively conversation and lighthearted moments among frineds. Cheers!
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Vinum Wine Importing & Distributing LLC
Hoosier Wine Cellar
An on-line wine newsletter of the Hoosier Times Publishing Company, Indiana, which I host
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Bruce H. Rector
My bride and I make 8 or 9 barrels of Pinot Noir a year. We sell it to our Wine Club. We have never sent a wine in to be scored. Dan Burger did give them an exceptional rating with a very nice description. We only crush from two Vineyards.
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Appellation America
Appellation America pursues a mission to define regional diversity across North America.
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My Wines Direct
My Wines Direct brings you expertly screened wines from undiscovered vineyards shipped directly to you for $0 shipping. Visit our site today to mix and match wines, order a pre-selected pack or send a delicious gift basket.
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MOSELLA
MOSELLA produces limited production, estate bottled wines from the Grand Cru, single-site vineyards on the Mosel River in Bernkastel, Germany. These wines are produced by the only American wine producer in Germany. MOSELLA believes it's all about the wine and your experience with it. "God does not rate wine only self-centered men do"...
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Brochelle Vineyards
We are a tiny winery located on a Westside hilltop in Paso Robles. We craft wines that are a fascinating marriage of power and elegance. We take what comes from the vineyard and keep it simple and pure. Our grapes are always encouraged to speak for themselves, and if you treat them with the utmost of care, they will always quietly reveal from where they came. We follow old-world farming and winemaking techniques and our boutique vineyard is purposely geared to produce tiny yields of highly flavoured fruit.
We use minimal intervention during the winemaking process, and let the fruit expose its story within the glass.....
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Market Street Wineshop
A 32 year old wine shop in Charlottesville, Virginia dedicated to exploring the weird and wonderful world of wines. Thomas Jefferson didn't need points to enjoy wine, so why should we?
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James David Cellars
A Paso Robles, Ca based boutique winery making wines that friends share! These limited production wines are generally for the serious wine drinker or collector.
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Willis Hall, a Washington State winery
Passionately hand crafting small lots of terroir-driven, premium-quality wine since 2003. Ain't no score EVER gonna capture the essence of our art!
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Pheasant Ridge Winery
We are the 4th oldest winery in Texas, located on the High Plains just outside of Lubbock. All of our wine is estate grown, made in a classic French style, lower in alcohol and never rushed. Perfect for pairing.
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Mutineer Magazine
National print magazine seeks fine beverage revolution.
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drinkUPmag.com
The pulse of the Sierra Foothills wine scene. Our mission is to bring awareness to the wines, the people and the wineries of one of the most exciting and vibrant wine regions in the world. Our wine reviews are unique, and do not involve numeric ratings, rather, the impressions and observations of the group experience.
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WineMonkey.ca
Monkeys tasting, spitting, blogging, spilling, making and having serious fun with wine.
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arnoldwaldstein.com/wine
Wine blogger sharing my love of natural wines on the social web. A believer that the natural wine and the social web revolutions come together as a perfect wave of change.
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Chateau Bon Chien
Chateau Bon Chien is currently a pre-commercial (hobbyist) Maryland winery hand-crafting less than 100 gals/year of fine wine in a variety of styles. We are dedicated to the 'drink local' ideal and strive to create wines that express a sense of both place and time.
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Steele Wines
Family owned winery that sell wines on merit and artistic style - not by the numbers!
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Coyote Wall Winery
Coyote Wall produces artisan wines from the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. Less than 500 cases produced annually. If you think it's difficult to summarize a winery in two sentences, how could anyone ever sum up a wine with one number?
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Kingsland Wines & Spirits
This is really starting to get noticed, if need some contacts in the UK to send your details to, let me know, Kevin
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Cornerstone Cellars
Making wines in the Napa Valley and Willamette Valley and searching for that elusive sense of place in all of our wines.
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Rad Grapes
Sourcing the best value priced, artisanal, hand-crafted and estate bottled wines directly from the world's wine growing regions, for New York's finest restaurants and wine shops.
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Gonzo Gastronomy
The Angels & Demons of Food & Wine.
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New York Wine Salon
Wine happenings. Happening wines. Only in New York. A website devoted to covering and enhancing the wine culture of New York City, featuring daily ratings-free reviews, bitesize news you can use, and the city's best wine events.
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VIDON Vineyard
A boutique winery on a petite vineyard in Oregon's Chehalem Mountains AVA focusing on premium pinot noirs that are exclusively sold through my tasting room..
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WineLoversPage.com
Wine information and community online since 1985.
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Wine Country Photography
Specializing in Wine Bottle Portraits and National & International Wine country images!
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MistralKitchen
Specializing in fresh, seasonal cuisine.
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Life Between the Vines
Life Between The Vines is an online community featuring podcasts with wine makers and dedicated to de-mystifying wine drinking.
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Waterford Wine Company
cork wine pub
A neighborhood Wine Pub and Craft Cocktail joint featuring the cuisine of Chef Bree Hoptman, the pastry expertise of Tanya Fallon, the beverage direction of Jeffrey Mar CSW, the management of Joel Rubin.
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Catavino
We write about Iberian wines. We do it by telling stories, not sticking numbers on bottles.
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RN74
ISTENIČ D.O.O.
In 1968, some forty years ago now, winemaker Janez Istenič wrote in
Bizeljsko: “Here we will produce sparkling wine, because the sites, climate
and selection of vines offer an ideal basis for good sparkling wines.
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The Northwest Wine Anthem
A wine blog celebrating NW wine from BC down to Southern Oregon.
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Anderson Family Vineyard
We grow Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot gris in Oregon's Dundee Hills. All our wines are handcrafted from our steep, organically dry farmed rockpile. We encourage wine drinkers to taste for themselves not get distracted by meaningless points.
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WineFoot.com
WineFoot is an online wine review publication that reviews wines from all over the world.
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The Community Tap
Community Tap = your neighborhood beer & wine store! Craft beer. Select wine. Growlers to go. All in a relaxed atmosphere that's unique to Greenville.
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Sip City Wines
Sip City Wines - Gateway to Washington Wine Country. We support Washington wines because of quality, not because someone gave it a score. We have tastings Wed, Fri & Sat from 4-9pm. Two diffrent wineries each week!
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The Cheese Cellar
combination cheese & wine shop
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Perennial Vintners
Perennial Vintners is a tiny estate vineyard and winery on Bainbridge Island -- we're just across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. Our wines are cool-climate citrusy, delicate, with bracing acidity and pair wonderfully with food, yet are unlikely to capture high scores as these traits aren't likely to impress in blind back-to-back tastings.
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syringa japanese cafe @ sushi bar
A north idaho sushi joint waiting for a revolution of any kind.
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Northwest Cellars
Northwest Cellars creates the ultimate statement by combining award-winning wines and imagination to create unique gifts.
You can order our award-winning wines with our Northwest Cellars label or with a custom–designed label for an additional onetime setup fee of $85.00. Our custom–labeled wines are ideal for special events, restaurants, hotels, corporate and personal gifts, private clubs, non–profit fundraisers, and regional or community–based projects, as well as special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and grand openings. Let Northwest Cellars help you to uncork the possibilities!
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Pilgrim's Market
As a specialty wine retailer we have never subscribed to the point system of rating wines, rather, we prefer to rely on our own tasting notes and our relationships with our customers (and our understanding of their tastes) to select the wines we stock.
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poursip.com
Wine education tool.
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The Candid Corker
As a retail wine professional for five years, I’ve seen it all. Consider this your glimpse behind the curtain into the retail wine world. I’ve decided to share my insight with the world. Aren’t you lucky?
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Blog Your Wine
Taking the world one winery at a time.
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Goedhart Family
Unfined, unfiltered, unscored, judge for yourself!
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Fat Cork
Fat Cork is a direct-to-consumer grower Champagne retail website with light-saber focus on quality, and value. Connecting directly to the growers, knowing exactly how the bottles are stored, and shipped, is integral to our plan. We’re the Champagne version of the farm-to-table lifestyle. It takes a village to enjoy grower Champagne at a fair price, in perfect provenance. Fat Cork is a part of that village. Join us. Pop a bottle. Every day is worthy.
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Cameron Winery
We are founding members of the deep roots coalition which practices sustainable viticulture by eschewing irrigation and embracing environmentally friendly farming techniques.
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Small Lot Co-Op
dedicated to bringing small lot Washington wines everyone
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Cork West
We believe our corks should come from a single source, grown, sterilized, punched, branded, and finished to seal and preserve wines made by these brave souls. Souls undeterred by quantitative analyses of qualitative artistic expressions of the terroir they are foresworn to uphold.
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Vino Verite
The Dirt Pour
Free thinking wine organization that believes it a gift from mother earth. Drink with a smile and appreciation.
Sip Washington/Julie Hall
After realizing that there is a growing interest in wine I started Sip Washington as a blog & events calendar in 2007 to reconnect with my passion for wine & meet other wine lovers in a non-snobby, fun way. Our group is growing and you should come!
We make our own decisions about wine not based on scores, labels or reputations and WE SUPPORT the Manifesto!
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Under the Grape Tree
Wine Blog of 3 years, authored by Kevin Keith, CSW, aka K2, 20 years restaurant and retail wine experience. One person's 100 point wine is another one's plonk.
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Terroirists Wine Blog
Wine blog slated to take over the wine world.
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Hedges Family Estate
Supremely dedicated to truth in terroir.
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Big Fat Wine Co.
Born out of a passion for wine and dedicated to the wine consumer. The goal of this site is to support you in becoming the most informed and knowledgeable wine consumer possible through weaving the expertise of local wine and culinary professionals with timely and relevant national and international wine and food topics.
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Rosemont Market and Bakery
a local market specializing in local produce, meats, cheese and more, plus a terrific wine selection focused on small winemakers.
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ampelography
ampelography is a fine wine sales and marketing company based in Ohio. We service distributors in 3 markets with 20+ winery clients based on the West Coast as well as 3 unique importers. All told, ampelography represents over 150 family-owned, artisan producers from around the world. Our vision is to help these small, but excellent wineries compete during these competitive times. The collective resources combine to make a powerful marketing group.
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Maratene's Fine Wine
We are a wine retailer in Waldwick NJ. We do not use scores of any kind. Scores are simply silly.
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WineTime
Magdalena Vineyard
Four acres of Red Mountain AVA, 100% biodynamically farmed cabernet sauvignon.
Occasus Vineyard LLC
Wine is a gustatory expression of the place where its grapes grew and the methods by which they were farmed, these methods having been developed over time to address the variability of nature. The combination of land, climate, culture, and philosophy is terroir. Ideally a wine will evoke an understanding of the region and perhaps the individual vineyard that was its place of origin. The subtle expression of wine is best understood through the context of its geography.
There are many inputs to the system that will ultimately affect a wine, but if the goal is to approach the subject from a minimalist mindset, to alter or influence the process as little as possible, while still preventing infection and spoilage, then surely the essence of terroir is preserved.
If we rely on the biased palates of a select few – and no palate can ever be unbiased, as the process of tasting is supremely personal – to tell us what is good, great, and perfect, then haven’t we sacrificed our own personal understanding of the wine, and as such, what would be the point of drinking it?
The 100 point rating system is a clumsy and useless tool for examining wine. If wine is, as we believe, a subjective, subtle, and experiential thing, then by nature it is unquantifiable. Wine scores are merely a static symbol, an absolute definition based on a singular contact with a wine, and thus completely ineffective when applied to a dynamic, evolving, and multifaceted produce.
To discuss a wine’s tannins, acid, balance, structure, fruit, etc, is essential. To share our thoughts and experiences with other humans is arguably one of the most important parts of drinking wine. To introduce a score to this process is condescending, overly simplistic, and often largely inaccurate.
Wine is infinitely variable. This is the nature of terroir, and also of humanity, which is inextricably twined with terroir.
Change is born from a single idea. An idea that begins as a murmur in the streets, grows into the infectious rabble of the people, and finally to the crescendo of a revolution. On this page can be heard the individual voices of the scoREVOLuTion!

