About Wine Pocket List

Only Highly-Rated Wines are Included
Each month, most individual wine magazines and wine reviewers review, rate and publish scores for hundreds of wines that are not highly rated. While this information can be interesting, the Wine PocketList focuses only on those wines that score highly enough to warrant inclusion.

Only Wines with Prices $30 and Under a bottle are Included
These same sources focus most of their reviews on wines that are well over $30 a bottle. And while there are many fine wines with prices of $50, $60 or $80 a bottle, our focus is only on those wines that score very well and are still good values. For instance, you will never find a wine in the Wine PocketList that scored an 87 in the Wine Spectator and is priced at $40. The score is too low, and the wine price is too high.

Search and Sort by Your Criteria
In short, you’ll be able to search, sort, save and create personalized shopping lists in one place, based on timely reviews of all the wines in the top publications that fit our strict but practical criteria.

A Rating Scale Everyone Can Understand and Use

Most of us are familiar with the 100-point system used by many of the top wine magazines. But we’ve seen experts and everyday wine lovers alike prove that this system alone can’t assure consistent results. One reason is that different reviewers apply it differently. Another is that each of us has a different taste bias.

Then there are other systems, such as the highly-regarded U.C. Davis 20 point system, and The Connoisseur’s Guide to Wine well-known “puff” scale. How can one system take all these into account in a way everyone can understand? The answer: letter grades.

Letter Grades; Only B+ or Better Included!
At the Wine PocketList, we search and compile wine reviews and ratings from the world’s most highly regarded wine publications, and select only those wines that fit our parameters. Then our highly acclaimed proprietary system crunches the numbers to deliver a score that each of us can easily understand: letter grades.

By using A+, A, A- and B+ (anything lower and it’s not special enough for a recommendation) we give you a better sense of what wines are worth a try based on their prices, how much you like the Varietal, what you know about the wineries’ past wines, etc. A $10 A- Chardonnay? You bet we’ll try it! Whether American, Italian, Australian, French, or wines from any other wine-producing region, our ratings are unbiased and comprehensive.

Once a wine is in the Wine PocketList (scoring a B+ or better, with a retail price of $30 a bottle or less) you can search based on almost any parameter you choose. For instance, you can search for all Australian Chardonnay that scored an “A” or above. Then you could sort these results by wine price, winery, or grade.
The resulting wine list can be saved in your Virtual Cellar, and printed out in our “PocketList” format to take to the store. Each time you search, you’ll get a wine shopping list and list of suggested retail wine prices customized to your preferences.

Founded in 1994, the Wine PocketList is the brainchild of John L. Vankat, PhD, professor and avid wine enthusiast. After years of poring over wine publications for favorably reviewed wines and compiling wine prices and lists of anything well reviewed by multiple publications (especially at a good price), he had so many friends asking for copies of his wine lists that John decided to launch a business.
After years of refinement, the Wine PocketList went from print to digital in late 2002 to give our members the added benefits of a robust database with search and sort criteria.

Every member gets total access to our database of highly rated wines, both past and current, which you can search, sort, classify, name, save (in your own Virtual Cellar) and print out as a handy wine price or shopping list.
You’ll also receive VinConnections, a monthly, email newsletter with special wine picks and commentary.
And of course, you also get a money back guarantee that gives you the right to cancel your subscription within 30 days.

Prices for membership are $49 per year, or $14.95 per quarter, including VinConnections, which is published every month.

For years our subscribers have written to us with stories of how The Wine PocketList has helped them build up their wine cellars with amazing finds, increased their knowledge of wine, and saved the money they used to spend on mediocre or overpriced bottles.

So, we’re totally confident that you’re going to enjoy using The Wine PocketList.

Our “30 day no questions asked, full refund cheerfully returned” policy guarantees your investment, while the Wine PocketList ensures your enjoyment.

Sure! It’s easy to Send a Gift Certificate. Subscriptions to the Wine PocketList make great gifts for the wine lovers in your life.

Wine novices and vinophiles alike have become fans over the years.

Your security is our top priority. We protect your information during transmission – from you to us, and from us to your credit card company – by using leading Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, which encrypts information you input. We reveal only the last five digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order.

We’re located in Marin County, California, just a half an hour away from Napa and Sonoma Counties (where we can often be found on our time off!) Email us anytime.

We have a very strict privacy policy and will not sell or share your personal information with anyone. We also promise not to spam you, and will only e-mail you information that you’ve requested, such as our monthly newsletter.

You can change your personal information any time you like by contacting us.

This website was developed with Microsoft Technology, specifically to work with PCs and Browsers Internet Explorer 5.0 and up, and Netscape 4.7 and up. However, your personal screen settings may over-ride the design. To fit the site on your screen, go to Settings, then Control Panel then Display, and reduce your Screen Area to 1024 x 768 pixels. This will reduce the appearance of all text and images on your desktop.

Try typing in just part of the winery name. If you’re searching for Domaine Chandon, it may be abbreviated to Dom. Chandon. If you’re searching for Chateau Souverain or Chateau Mourgues du Gres, they might be abbreviated with a “Ch.” By typing in just “Souverain”, you’ll find your results.
If you’ve simplified the name and still get no results, then it means there are no reviews that fit our qualifications for wines produced by that winery within the past 18 months. Try the full search engine, which allows you to widen the parameters and see what you find.

The more specific your search parameters, the smaller your return. In some cases you may need to increase search parameters to find what you’re looking for. It’s not likely that you’ll find a $10 Pinot Noir rated an A+. (Sorry! There are some things even we can’t do.) When one appears you’ll be the first to know it, but in the meantime, expand your price range, grade, countries or varietals and see what comes up.

There are SO MANY really good wines available, that we’ve purposely set high standards on scoring and availability, in addition to price. Many wines reviewed are produced in small lots, and rarely make it to the general wine drinking public. Since a wine produced in a 450 case lot has very limited distribution, our methodology is designed and our programs built to assess factors like this accordingly. We think of it as the democratic approach.

You probably started compiling an earlier list in your VinFinder without naming it, and then went back for another search. So the search engine assumes you’re still adding to an existing list, and grays out wines that are already “on hold.” If you want to clear out that search and start over, go to “Check My List” and either name the list you’ve started or remove the wines.

Grade: [A-]
Our grades represent a composite score developed using our proprietary system to blend wine quality and scoring information.

Vintage: 1999
This describes both the year of the actual grape harvest as well as the year the wine was made.

Price: $12
The prices quoted in the Wine PocketList are the “suggested retail” prices quoted by the wineries and the distributors. Though these are close to what you’d pay at the winery, (and Less than half what you’ll pay at a restaurant) you’ll often find discounts of 20% and more off these prices at retail.

Individual Evaluations: IE: A, A-, B+
This represents the number of individual reviews and ratings on which the composite grade is based, primarily representing individual reviews in top wine periodicals converted to our scale.

Wine PocketList Exclusive Categories: WPL: BBC, W, S, B
There are four Exclusive PocketList categories, and many Wines rated by the PocketList will fall into one of these Special designations. There are also thousands of other Wines online that are great selections and don’t necessarily fit into one of these four categories.

[W] Widely Available: These wines typically have bottling of 20,000 cases or more, making them widely available in most regions of the U.S.

[BBC] Top Buy-by-the-Case: Based on multiple, good reviews and a solid history, these are wines you can purchase by the case to grow your cellar with confidence today, and into the future!

[B] Bargain Wines: Top-rated wines for $10 or less. Most of these can go head to head with a typical $30 bottle sporting a fancy label…and beat it hands down.

[S] Splurge Wines: For most of us, spending more than $25 on a bottle of wine isn’t something we do lightly. These are wines that, while more expensive, are well worth the price.

A Rating Scale Everyone Can Understand and Use

Most of us are familiar with the 100-point system used by many of the top wine magazines. But we’ve seen experts and everyday wine lovers alike prove that this system alone can’t assure consistent results. One reason is that different reviewers apply it differently. Another is that each of us has a different taste bias.

Then there are other systems, such as the highly regarded U.C. Davis 20 point system, and The Connoisseur’s Guide to Wine well-known “puff” scale. How can one system take all these into account in a way everyone can understand? Our answer: letter grades.

Letter Grades; Only B+ or Better Included!
At the Wine PocketList, we search and compile wine reviews and ratings from the world’s most highly regarded wine publications, and select only those wines that fit our parameters. Then our highly acclaimed proprietary system crunches the numbers to deliver a score that each of us can easily understand: letter grades.

By using A+, A, A- and B+ (anything lower and it’s not special enough for a recommendation) we give you a better sense of what wines are worth a try based on their prices, how much you like the Varietal, what you know about the wineries’ past wines, etc.