In the Current Issue:

Aug. 31, 2008

Previous issue: July 31, 2008

Wining and Dining Survey A Wine Spectator poll that attracted more than 18,000 respondents reveals that restaurant-goers want better wine service when dining out

WineSpectator.com Share your own experiences with restaurant wine programs, and your opinions about wine lists, sommeliers and corkage policies on our free forums.

The Best Places, at the Best Prices With more than 4,100 award-winning wine lists this year and more than 600 of those restaurants emphasizing inexpensive wine pricing, it’s a great time to search out value

List of Grand Award-Winning Restaurants

New Grand Award Winners

Dining Guide A comprehensive listing of our Award of Excellence, Best of Award of Excellence and Grand Award winners around the world

WineSpectator.com Complete listing details for all of our award winners can be found in our free online Restaurant Search, where you can select by location, award level, wine list pricing and strengths, corkage policy and cuisine type. Site members can also share their own personal ratings and reviews.

Features

Tasting Reports

Fresh and Fruity Italian Whites Vivid and diverse, Italy’s white wines range far beyond Pinot Grigio

WineSpectator.com: An alphabetical chart of all wines tasted for this report is available.

Appealing Sauvignon Blanc The Golden State’s best value white comes in a variety of styles

WineSpectator.com: An alphabetical chart of all wines tasted for this report is available.

France's Winemaking Frontier A wide range of reds, whites and dessert wines from Languedoc-Rousillon

WineSpectator.com: An alphabetical chart of all wines tasted for this report is available.

Events

Magnum-Size Fun Wine Spectator ’s pre-auction parties in Napa and Sonoma bring out top winemakers

Auction Napa Valley A dinner in tribute to Robert Mondavi becomes the top lot at the annual star-studded event

People

In the Pink Winemaking heir Sacha Lichine keeps up the family tradition with his exclusive rosés

Departments

This Issue

This Issue Marvin R. Shanken

Upfront

Wine consumption on the wane in France; Montepulciano wines caught in growing Tuscan scandal; Italian entrepreneur buys Piedmont’s Giacomo Borgogno; a glass or two of red wine may keep the heart young; Asia's growing thirst for wine; GrapeVine

WineSpectator.com Keep up with breaking news as well as the people, places and happenings that wine lovers are talking about.

Tastes

Sorbets and granitas; Southern dining in Las Vegas; the bartender as celebrity; old school olive oils; practice makes perfect

WineSpectator.com Members can use our Recipe Search to find directions for how to make espresso granita and grapefruit tequila sorbet.

Savvy Shopper

The Savvy Shopper California Sauvignon Blanc and Italian whites

Columns

James Laube The pricing controversy

WineSpectator.com In recent blog posts, James Laube asks readers what they want from a winery, speculates whether Sonoma Pinots will achieve the lofty prices of Napa Cabernets and discusses the problem of bottle variation.

Matt Kramer China’s wine culture

Letters

Collecting

A successful entrepreneur builds the cellar of her dreams; no slack in sales of rare wines at auction, despite economic woes

WineSpectator.com: Manage your cellar: Our improved Personal Wine List allows members to organize the bottles in their collection in a personal database. The new My Cellar companion tool tracks the value of your individual collectibles and of your cellar's total worth.

Wine Talk

Wine Talk Film writer Ross Schwartz

The Buying Guide

For more than 196,000 tasting notes, use WineSpectator.com's Wine Ratings Search, where you can sort by region, variety, vintage, price, score and tasting date.

RESTAURANT RATINGS: Let us know what you think about the award winners in our 2008 Dining Guide. Our Restaurant Search ratings system lets you hand out stars and comment on places where you've dined.

EDITORS' BLOGS: Don't miss what our tasters discovered on their travels to top wine regions:

Senior editor Bruce Sanderson was recently in Burgundy for a first look at the 2007s in barrel, plus a tasting of Domaine Leroy's grand crus.
Senior editor James Molesworth spent two weeks in the Rhône Valley to try the 2006 and 2007 vintages, which continue the region's streak of high quality.

WINE COUNTRY TRAVEL TIPS: Planning a summer vacation to your favorite wine region? Use our Hotel Search and Winery Search tools to find accommodations that fit your needs, as well as nearby wineries that feature tours and tasting rooms.

RESTAURANT SEARCH: Our complete 2008 Dining Guide, with more than 4,000 award-winning restaurants, is searchable through our free online database—complete with photos and more information.

NEW E-MAIL NEWSLETTER: Our five free newsletters deliver essential information straight to your inbox. The latest addition is New at Wine Spectator, which alerts you to the cover story and other articles in the latest issue of the magazine, with links to related content available free on our Web site. Sign up for this new newsletter.

HARVEST REPORTS: Coming Soon: Once crush gets under way, we'll be providing updates on what to expect in terms of quality from the Northern Hemisphere's top wine regions.

2008 VIDEO CONTEST: Creative with a video camera? Submit your wine videos to Wine Spectator's second annual video contest and you could win great prizes. We are looking for short, original videos that are educational and entertaining. Our editors will select the best entries, and the finalists will be posted on WineSpectator.com, where viewers will vote to choose the winner. The deadline for entering is Aug. 18, 2008. Here are the complete rules and technical information, and last year's finalists.