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This is an analysis of the ranking of wine sites.

Establishment vs. bloggers

Two websites clearly stand out as the biggest wine hubs: the Wine Spectator and the Wine lovers page. This in part is explained by their quality. It is also explained by the long time they have been known by wine enthusiasts.

Having an off-line reputation clearly helps. This is illustrated by the presence in the top five of the Wine Spectator, the New York Times and Robert Parker.

In the last few years the wine web offer has immensely diversified. There now are many quality wine critics who blog on line. The list attempts to highlight writers that you should discover. Only the better 40% of the websites are shown.

Recession

The websites are still as good as they were before the credit implosion of September 2008. Yet their financial possibilities are greatly reduced by the coming depression. This is why the valuations shown are smaller than in the previous quarter. Many websites have seen their valuation divided by about 3 in the course of a year (since the contest started).
In the middle of the pack, compare the struggles of many US sites to the growth of sites based in Asia.

What other trends can you see from the rankings?

How to participate

Websites are automatically included in the contest as soon as I learn of their existence. To be eligible to the next issue of the Cellarer wine directory, the below conditions must be met:

1. The main topic should be wine.
2. Producing estates and wine sellers are excluded. Some of them run wonderful websites but the type of information is different.

If you disagree with the directory criteria, please comment below or e-mail me.

Once the above conditions are fulfilled the websites are also considered for addition to another tool: a search engine dedicated to wine and food.

Here are the metrics I use for rating the wine sites. You can follow the directory evolution by subscribing to the feed on websites .