Talk-A-Vino

Few days ago, I found an e-mail in my inbox. “Would you be interested in reviewing our new wine magazine called By The Bottle”? Hmmm, I love reading – books, magazines, blogs – but review? Take something and shred it apart? Or write pointless sweet mambo jumbo, pretending I’m saying something of essence? Both scenarios sound equally unappealing. Ahh, yes – and the magazine is all-electronic, an iPad version. I already had an experience with an iPad wine book I didn’t care for. What should I do, what should I do… I read the e-mail again. It said “the good, the bad and the ugly – we can take it”. Okay, so let’s see how bad it can be.

Going along of “don’t judge the book by its cover”, I had to make an effort from the get go.

I didn’t like the cover. At all. The woman’s legs – okay, it is a cheap attention shot. The guy looks good, but what’s up with that cigarette? This is clearly not meant for  the American audience – I would understand the cigar (kind of), but cigarette? Yes, may be I’m missing something, but I’m not aware of cigarettes becoming popular again in US. And I understand that the magazine hails from Europe (London, to be precise), but I didn’t read so far about smoking renaissance in UK. Thus to this point, one is clearly down, and I need to control my expectations for the rest.

Here is an important announcement: we reached the end of the bad news. From there on, it was actually interesting and entertaining.

The magazine’s promise is that it will have something for all different groups of wine lovers, from amateurs to the people “in the trade” – and it delivered.

Pictures, graphics, cars, bottles and people – all done at the level of an “eye candy”. Of course iPad’s graphics capabilities greatly help with it.

Navigation is simple and clear – you know where you are, the structure is linear and it is easy to go back and force. Definitely a plus.

And then the content.

I pretty much enjoyed all the features in the magazine. The interview with Maximilian Riedel, 11th generation glass-maker (well, actually he is a Head of US operations, but still) was quite interesting (I still don’t care for the “O” series of glasses, but it is just me).

Have you heard of #7wordwinereview? It is a whole movement around the world, against long but meaningless, not fun and repetitive wine reviews. It is taking place everywhere, and people are having fun with their wines (guess what we are doing at our next wine dinner).

I don’t want to take it away from you – there are many more fun things you can read and learn about – what car would be best if you are going on a wine buying spree in France (well, that would be best airline with best luggage policy for me), what is corked wine, mastering the wine speak and learning to look as a wine buff without knowing a thing (okay, my recommendation would be actually to learn about wines, but it was fun to read). A little bit about cigars, how to read a wine label, learning to play poker, useful wine accessories and lots more. Even an article proving that wine is the most romantic drink with some pretty graphic arguments as to why wine and not beer. All in all, there is a lot to read – with an added bonus that magazine is free, at least at the moment.

Let’s sum it up. There was the bad and the good, but ugly didn’t show up. I really like the format, the fact that magazine is concise and finite, a pleasure to flip through and easy to use. The content is good now, and potential is really unlimited (I have tons of ideas, but I’m sure people behind the magazine have one or two of their own). I’m looking forward to the next issue already.

Intrigued? Get your own copy (here is the link, or simply type the name “By The Bottle” in the search box in App store on your iPad), pour yourself a glass of wine and feel free to become a magazine critic. A least I did. Cheers!