G E N E R A L_ I N F O R M A T I O N _

Robin Garr's WINE LOVERS PAGE is a down to earth site for neophytes or Ubergeeks alike, full of plain talk and helpful hints and recommendations for wine/food matching. If you're a novice to the wacky internet wine world and can visit only one site on the net, this is the most comprehensive and plain-spoken.

WINE SPECTATOR's online site has a searchable tasting notes archive, news of the wine world, features and articles from their print magazine (including mine, but that's water under the thing that you drive on that goes over water).

The good folks at WINE UPDATE have been kind enough to feature this site on their homepage, which gives you frequent updates on all the latest poop on web wine sites.

GAMBERO ROSSO ONLINE is a great resource for anyone who digs Italian wines, or just Italy in general; there are recipes, travel tips, hotels and plenty of other good stuff for those of us who never go there to dream about.

THE WINES OF ALSACE is, oddly enough, all about wines from Alsace, which I can't get enough of. Of which I can't get enough. How do I not end that sentence in a preposition?

Thor Iverson, who writes a wine column for the Boston Phoenix and has been gnawed on by my cat, has some good words from past columns in the UNCORKED ARCHIVE. He has actually been known to put a coherent sentence or two together, a rarity for wine writers not named 'Jancis.'

THE INTERNET GUIDE TO WINE has evolved from the old USENET FAQ and has plenty of good, well-summarized info, some of it technical, some not. Kind of a Reader's Digest approach for folks who might want an overview of everything vinous.

There is some good fodder for Bordeaux lovers amidst the Chamber-of-Commerce material at WINES OF THE MEDOC.

D I S C U S S I O N_ G R O U P S _

One of the best ways to pick up information in these hot-wired times is to read the various discussion groups on the web that are set up to attract opinionated geeks like moths to a flame.

Some of my favorites are:

WINE DISORDER, for those of us who have to work through many, many wine related pathologies in a calm, supportive environment free of judgment and the improper use of the word 'varietal,'

the WINE LOVERS DISCUSSION GROUP, which I've lost touch with over the past few years, but was always international, comprehensive and eclectic,

the WEST COAST WINE NETWORK, which seems to focus mostly on 'cult' wines from California and who is on what mailing list, and

THE WINE ASYLUM, which has gone very rapidly downhill.

R E T A I L E R _ S I T E S_

I don't do the whole internet-shopping thing much, but since I'm in the New York City area, I like to check out the CHAMBERS ST. WINES website, which is full of great wines that are often ignored in other shops. Plus, it features the tortured scrawlings of Robert Callahan Esq., a prince among bottle-monkeys and my best friend in the whole wide world (for tax purposes only). Happily, they ship all over the country, even to New Jersey.

If you're looking for obscure bottles or old vintages, a good place to try is WINE SEARCHER, which is a database link to retailers' stocks from all over the world. Oddly, I know no one there.

Not a retail site, but interesting nonetheless for the eccentric proprietor's views on wine is LOUIS/DRESSNER SELECTIONS, the showcase site for a Bigshot Wine Guy who imports stuff from the Loire Valley, Portugal, Burgundy, etc. Sadly, I can no longer find the saga of poor Buster, lost on the tarmac, but perhaps it will be back in time. Lou Dressner is my best friend in the whole wide world, but only because I dig his wines; if he imported crap I'd drop him like a hot potato.

WINEBID is an internet auction site that can sometimes be very Cal-cult heavy (half the listings seemed to be 'Caymus' at one auction), but there can be offbeat stuff as well if you poke around. NB: These people made me come to some ridiculous hoidy-toidy club at Newark airport at 6 am for an interview, then didn't hire me. I still recommend them. Pretty big of me, huh? Catch them before the last of the dot-coms dies a horrible death.

Somewhat less Cal-centric is THE BRENTWOOD WINE COMPANY, an auction site that seems to have a lot of funky older stuff, both new and old world. They're friendly too, and they send me flattering emails telling me I'm a swell guy, which always helps. Plus, they never made me go anywhere at 6 am, much less an airport, so they have my heartfelt endorsement.

O T H E R_ S T U F F _

Brother-In-Arms internet crackpot THOR IVERSON has finally discovered he has a website. He uses my name in the same sentence with Jancis's! Go visit him HERE! NOW! (Plus, his site has that cool designy slick look, I think he must know someone in the biz...)

I find it hard to put Hannu Lehmusvuori's WINE OF THE WEEK site into a convenient niche, but he does some cool stuff with graphics and it's worth a look. Crazy, baby!

Apropos of that, Sue Courtney has a WINE OF THE WEEK site that covers New Zealand wines like white on rice. If it's got gooseberries, it's in there.

Lastly, Dressner has been hounding me mercilessly to plug his "Blog" (web geek jargon for 'weblog'), so if the twisted mind of the world's richest and most powerful wine importer has any fascination for you, DRESSNER'S BLOG is the place to be. Don't say I didn't warn you , though.

There are many more, I'm sure. I just can't remember any of them now.