Other Wine Submission Procedures FAQs
How many bottles are required of each wine tasted?
We ask for two bottles of each sample. This allows for the wine to be retasted if any questions or problems arise from the first evaluation. (This applies even if the wine uses a closure other than cork.)
If I submit my wine unsolicited, what happens to it?
Unsolicited wines may be tasted, but we don’t guarantee a review will be published. Nor can we return any bottles submitted as tasting samples.
If I choose not to submit my wine, will you purchase it and review it anyway?
We may. Our goal is to review the wines our readers consider important. Wine Spectator spends thousands of dollars each year purchasing wines for review from retail sources.
About how much time generally elapses between the time a wine is submitted and a review is published?
It may take three to six months from the time a sample is submitted to the publication of its review in Wine Spectator magazine.
However, reviews of important wines may appear on WineSpectator.com, particularly in the weekly Insider newsletter or Tasting Highlights feature, within four to six weeks of submission.
Can I contact you to find out if you received my wine or when the review will appear?
No. Please do not contact us to check on the status of your wine. It is against our editorial policy to comment about the status of your wine once you submit it to us.
Our editorial policy strictly forbids revealing any information about reviews that are not yet printed in the magazine or on our website. This includes not only what score a wine receives, but also when or if a review will appear.
Because we process thousands of wines a year, we are unable to answer questions about whether or not we’ve received your wine. Please check with your courier, not us, to answer those questions.
Where do reviews appear? Are all reviews published in the magazine?
Wine reviews may appear in print, on WineSpectator.com, or both.
The most efficient way to find out whether a wine has been reviewed is to search our website's Wine Ratings Search database (available to members only), which will list all of the wines that have been published both online and in print. (However, wines that appear in our member-exclusive Insider newsletter and online Tasting Highlights may not be added to the Wine Ratings Search database for two or three weeks after initial publication.)
We do not publish reviews of all wines that are submitted to us for tasting; the volume of wines makes this impossible. We cannot respond to questions about if or whether specific wines will be reviewed.
Will I be notified if my wine is reviewed?
No wine review is released before it is made public to our readers. Wine Spectator staffers are not permitted to share wine reviews with anyone, including the producers of the wine, in order to prevent inappropriate advance knowledge of our reviews.
Is there any fee associated with your reviews?
No. We do not charge for our reviews.
In addition, you cannot pay to have a wine chosen as a Spectator Selection, and there is no charge when we choose to publish a label.
If my wine is reviewed, may I pay to have my label reproduced in your Buying Guide?
No. All labels and bottles that appear in Wine Spectator are determined by our editors. They are reproduced at no charge to the suppliers and cannot be requested or purchased.
