About Wine Blue Book
Independent wine guides and research-based value picks for US wine drinkers.
Wine Blue Book is an independent guide for people who enjoy wine and want to understand it better, without the jargon. We explain the grapes, regions and basics behind the bottles you see in the store, suggest wines for the food you are cooking, and point you to bottles that deliver more than their price.
What we cover
- Wine basics: how wine is made, how to store and serve it, and what is wrong when a wine tastes sour or turns brown.
- Grape varieties: where each grape comes from, how it tastes and what to pair it with.
- Wine regions: what grows where, and how to read the labels.
- Food pairings: which wines go with cheese, chicken, salmon, steak and more.
- Best value wines: research-based picks that compare published critic scores with current US prices.
How we research
Wine Blue Book is written by a small editorial team. We don’t taste or test the wines we recommend. Our value picks are built from scores that professional critics have already published, compared with prices at US retailers, and every article lists its sources. The method, including the thresholds for a Great Value or Good Value verdict, is on How we rate wine, and our guide to wine ratings explains how to read critic scores yourself.
The name
From the mid-2000s to around 2012, this web address was home to the Wine Blue Book, a newsletter that compared critics’ scores with prices to find good-value wines. The site you are reading was rebuilt from scratch in 2026 around that same simple idea: help readers get more from every bottle they buy.
How the site is funded
Wine Blue Book is free to read. Some articles link to wine accessories and books on Amazon, such as glasses, openers and storage. If you buy through those links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We don’t accept payment, free bottles or samples for coverage. Details are in the affiliate disclosure.
Get in touch
Spotted a price that has changed, or a wine you’d like us to look at? Contact us.
Wine Blue Book is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.