Founded in 2022 by a husband/wife/brother team of wine drinkers who were tired of searching online for honest reviews about wines we liked, only to be made feeling foolish for liking the wines we drank. We don’t want to say there are loads of wine snobs out there, but we wanted to review our favorites and live by our company motto: “Drink What You Like.“
In the digital space, we have a combined experience of more than 20 years of online marketing, SEO, social media and overall audience development and growth. Wine-wise we have a combined experience of 25 years – but really kicked that up a notch during the pandemic. In regards to product reviews, combined we’ve contributed to more than 1,000 reviews and round-ups for other brands including major publishers/magazines and smaller niche review brands.
We’re a small, but mighty team of actual real editors, meaning we’re choosing wines and wine-related products we love, researched, reviewed and, in most cases, tested/drank ourselves. No robots here!
In all of our individual wine reviews we’ve basically drank each wine we’re writing about – at least once. If it’s one of our favorites, we’ve drank/tested endless bottles over the course of months and years.
If there are specific wines we may not be as familiar with we’ll research the heck out of it, read dozens of customer reviews, consult with other wine pros in our space and, at times, poll our readers.
Each and every review we write (whether it’s a specific wine, a wine-related product, or a wine round-up) is written by one of our approved editors (no robots or the like). We stand behind each review whether you agree with us or not.
For us, our process is pretty much those three above-mentioned steps. Our labs are our kitchens, our reviews are our own subjective thoughts on each glass-into-bottle that we consume. Sometimes our testing teams include friends we have over who are into wine, as everyones palette can be different so we seek out honest, yet relatable, feedback. Will you agree with every review we write? No. Will each review help you make an informed purchase or gifting decision? You betcha.
Trusting online reviews is a hot-button issues these days and we totally get it. There’s nothing worse than reading a review or recommendation from someone, only to find out they have no idea what they’re talking about, what they’ve written isn’t really helpful and (the biggest bummer) when they’re paid in exchange for a positive review from a brand.
We want to be clear that here at The Wine Down Report, we do not review anything (ever) in exchange for compensation or some type of kickback.
Every wine our editors have reviewed has been purchased by us/our editors and reviewed by them just the same. Not everything we review is going to get a glowing review. If a wine wasn’t for us, it wasn’t for us. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “bad” it’s just that we weren’t too into it, but still wanted to let you know about it.
Every wine we review or recommend is different, so the amount of time being spent on the research and review phase can also differ.
Since wines can be more subjective and require much less testing, our editors can stand by the fact that they’ve drank at least one glass of reviewed wine but, in most cases, the entire bottle is consumed over the course of 3-5 days (TBH, in most cases the bottle is polished-off in one night).
Outside of the hands-on testing, this can also include reading dozens of customer reviews, independent honest third-party reviews, and even news articles.
Overall, editors will spend anywhere from 2-4 days (2-4 hours) on just about each and every wine they’re reviewing.
When it comes to overall wine roundups, cool wine product reviews or even some gift guides – editors will spend anywhere from 16-24 hours per week on these individual pieces of content.
We also don’t have any ads on our site at all. Those annoying banners that follow you around wherever you go won’t be found here because, well, they’re annoying. So we’re not into this for the ad revenue game. We’re ok with zero-dollars in that column.
In order to keep the lights on around here, we do take part in some affiliate partnerships that don’t impact you at all. More on this below.
Speaking of affiliates, we want to be transparent that we do take part in affiliate partnerships here at The Wine Down Report.
In this area, we’ve partnered with both Amazon and other trusted retailers where, if you were to click on any of our links and make a purchase we may earn a commission. This does not impact the price listed and you don’t pay for this at all. It’s all between our brand and the retailers.
In full disclosure, we currently utilize any commission we make to pay for our server costs, editors salary (to some extent), and even some fun bottles of wine from time to time.
Please note that not every brand or retailer we link to will pay us a commission at all. We just want to make sure we’re providing you, the reader, access to where you can make the purchase and, hopefully, for the best price.
Patrick is one of the founders of The Wine Down Report, having consumed endless bottles of wine for more than 20 years. He’s been a content creator since 2006, a product reviews editor since 2014, and has contributed content to Harper’s BAZAAR, Best Products, Trendsicle, Brostrick and MTV. Having lived in New York for more than a decade he, of course, fell into the rosé hole and Prosecco tunnel. Most of his wine reviews will be dedicated to these summer faves.
Jennifer is the co-founder and editor at The Wine Down Report, happy to hop on board after a true introduction to the wine world a few years ago, all thanks to some fabulous, well-educated, wine enthusiast friends.
Living in the Boston area with her husband and three teenagers, she’s been a content creator since 2015. With over 8 years of experience writing gift guides and product reviews for Brostrick and Jenraly, she has a knack for uncovering some of the best hidden gems in the wine world. Whether it’s attending virtual or in-person tastings, she’s always up for trying something new – from various bottles of the same grape, same producer, or food and wine pairings. While she personally enjoys a light-bodied, less sweet red or white, Jennifer knows that there’s a wine out there for everyone, and is eager to share her latest discoveries with her readers.
Meet Dave, the Boston-based staffing industry veteran (owner of The Ceres Group) and hockey coach turned wine enthusiast. He’s a man of many hats, and when he’s not running his successful staffing company or spending time with his three teenagers, you can find him uncorking a bottle of his favorite vintage.
His wine journey began several years ago, and he hasn’t looked back since. With a preference for reds, he loves the experience of sipping on old wines and trying out different varietals.
But don’t let his love of reds fool you – he also has a sweet tooth when it comes to wine. He’s a big fan of dessert wines, and he can’t resist a glass of orange wine.
As a true wine enthusiast, Dave loves to share his passion with others, establishing “Old Wine Wednesday,” a weekly gathering where he and his wine-loving friends open an older bottle of something special from their collections, as well as “The Summer of Rare Varietals,” a series of tastings where they explored lesser-known wine varieties.
And when it comes to expanding his wine knowledge, he is always up for a challenge. He’s currently taking wine classes to learn even more about the world of wine. With his infectious enthusiasm and love of trying new things, we can’t wait to see what new discoveries he’ll make in the world of wine next.
All of our editors contact info is above, but feel free to shoot us an email with any questions you may have, wines you’re loving, reviews you’ve disagreed with, or wine-related products you want us to know about.
You can contact us here at: heythere@winedownreport.com