Sommelier Journal

As we bring in the New Year we have some special back issue bundles available through our website. These bundles are thematic, but please note that you are getting the entire issue, not just the article that fits the theme. You can purchase any of these by going to www.sommelierjournal.com/subscribe, either logging in or creating an account, and then clicking on "Special Bundled Back Issues" If you're interested in seeing what else you would be getting in each issue, I'd recommend going to our archive and checking out the contents page for any issue you are interested in.

Here is a complete list of what we have available:
2009 Release Reports Back Issues
Purchase the Sommelier Journal issues containing the 2009 Spring (May 2009) and Fall (November 2009) Release Reports for only $18! (Higher rates apply outside of the United States)

Bar Back Issues
Purchase past issues of Sommelier Journal, each containing a feature on bar related topics, including: October 2008 (Wine Cocktails), December 2008 (Special Report: Cognac's Star in Ascendance and Molecular Mixology), September 2009 (A Sommelier's Guide to Single-Malt Scotch), October 2009 (Special Report: Cognac: A Nose for Success), and November 2009 (Calvados: The Epicure's Secret Elixir). All five issues for only $24! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

Beverage Program Improvement Back Issues
Purchase past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature article on improving your beverage program, including: September 2008 (How to Design a Profit-Generating Wine List), May 2009 (Tracking Customer Preferences in the Restaurant Setting), August 2009 (Smaller Pours, Bigger Profits), September 2009 (What Should I Drink with That?), October 2009 (Innovative Wine Dinners), and our entire February 2009 Service Issue. All six issues for only $25! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

France Back Issues
Purchase six past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature on French wines, including: July 2008 (The Shifting Landscape of Champagne), September 2008 (Wines of the Jura and Special Report: 2005-2006 Burgundy), June 2009 (Savoie: A Quiet Revolution in the French Alps), July 2009 (Little-Known Wines of the Loire), August 2009 (Languedoc: The Pursuit of Quality), and September 2009 (Provence: Heaven for the Senses). All six issues for only $25!

Green Back Issues
Purchase past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature article on environmental issues, including: August 2008 (How Green is Your Wine?), June 2009 (Beverage Programs Go Green), July 2009 (Climate Change in the European Vignoble), and September 2009 (Organic Grape Growing in Napa Valley). All four issues for only $22! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

Italy Back Issues
Purchase four past Sommelier Journal issues, each with a feature on Italian wines, including: June 2008 (Discovering Sardinia), August 2008 (Special Report: Chianti Classico), January 2009 (Sicily: Jewel of the Mediterranean), and November 2009 (Campania: Ancient Grapes, Modern Wines). All four issues for only $22! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

Personal Improvement Back Issues
Purchase past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature article offering advice to improve your skills, including: Premiere Issue (Buying Wine, Buying Time: Today's Sommeliers are the Ultimate Multitaskers), July 2008 (The Sommelier's Apprentice: The Stagière System), and March 2009 (It's All a Matter of Tasting Groups). All three issues for only $20! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

South America Back Issues
Purchase five past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature on South American wines, including: Premiere Issue (Wines of Altitude, Wines of Attitude), March 2009 (Brazil: Ready for the World), April 2009 (Special Report: Argentina), June 2009 (Chilean Wine: Can It Age?), and October 2009 (Elqui and Limarí: Chile's Northern Valleys). All five issues for only $24! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

Spain Back Issues
Purchase past issues of Sommelier Journal, each with a feature article on Spanish wines, including: November 2008 (Montsant: The "Other" Priorat), March 2009 (Sherry: History by the Glass) and May 2009 (Rioja: Benchmark for Spanish Wine). All three issues for only $20! (Higher rates apply for those outside of the United States)

Wine Flaws Back Issues
Purchase the six past issues of Sommelier Journal containing Jamie Goode's popular Wine Flaws articles, including Premiere Issue (Reduction), June 2008 (Oxidation), July 2008 (Brettanomyces), October 2008 (TCA), January 2009 (High Alcohol), and April 2009 (Volatile Acidity). All six issues for only $25! (Higher rates apply for those outside the United States)

Subscribers with a web account linked to their print subscription can choose to auto-renew instead of receiving notices in the mail. This requires an up-to-date credit card and making sure that Auto-Renew is turned on in your account settings (go to the My Account page to do this). For more detailed information, head to our forum: http://www.sommelierjournal.com/forum/topics.aspx?ID=225.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to be a part of your wine world. Changes are coming next year, as in response to requests from readers, we will produce eight issues with expanded content in each issue, including several new departments, at a lower subscription price.

One of the most consistent responses we’ve received from our subscribers is simply: ‘We want more!’ in each issue. In particular, you've told us that you want more regional overviews, more spotlights, and more terroir and appellation articles. So that’s what we will do in this expanded format.

The new departments will include a column on food-and-wine pairing in the form of a sommelier challenge. In each issue, two sommeliers will be given a table of orders from an actual restaurant and tasked with providing their wine recommendations for the entire group. Other new items will include worldwide wine regulation updates and an expanded quiz.

To make these larger issues possible, we will move to a publication schedule of every six weeks, rather than the current four weeks, which means we will publish eight issues per year instead of 12. Interesting to note that after this change, Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly will be the only major American wine magazines with international coverage printed on a monthly basis: both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast publish more than 12 issues a year, while Santé and Wine & Spirits publish eight.

The base price for one-year U.S. subscriptions to Sommelier Journal will be reduced from $59 to $49 to reflect the reduced number of issues per subscription. Subscribers can expect the same breadth and depth of coverage, just a bit more spaced out through the year. We feel that this trade-off will benefit our subscribers in the long run, particularly with a lower subscription price in these difficult economic times. The actual cost per page of content will be almost exactly the same.

For subscribers who already have a subscription, we will honor not the number of years or months you have remaining but the number of issues. So you will still receive the full amount (6, 12, or 24) of issues you paid for. This will mean a change in your expiration date. You have either already received or will be receiving a letter that details your new expiration date. My apologies to about 20 of our subscribers, an error in addressing the envelopes left off the third line in addresses, which means that your letters are coming back to us and need to be re-sent. This is happening today.

For the remainder of this year the old prices will still be in effect, as we have two more monthly issues to go. We are obviously behind at the moment, but the October issue is in the mail (some may have already received it) and we are going to work hard to try to make up some time in the next two months. The date of the January issue next year is going to be January 31, 2010, so there should still be about a four-week gap between it and the December 2009 issue. Anyone who signs up for a subscription now will still receive 12 or 24 issues, so you will not "lose" out at the higher price as you will have either 4 or 8 extra issues in your subscription versus a lower priced January sign-up.

Anyone with any questions can contact us directly at (303) 440-0372 or comment below.