Wines of the World Gold Edition

Using Wines of the World's maps, photographs, and extensive videotape footage, you can explore the winemaking universe down to its tiniest details. Topics such as grapevine cultivation, winemaking, and the particular characteristics of the wine-producing regions of the world are all explored. What's more, the program helps users educate themselves on the specific merits and weaknesses of vintages. Using this program, you can learn to judge a wine's sugar content and relative dryness or its compatibility with differing types of meals, or how to select a wine you are likely to enjoy.

In the Gold Edition, many new vintages have been added to the wine review list, bringing the total to 40,000. It does not limit itself to the most expensive labels, instead identifying the top wines in every price range. It has full Internet compatibility and allows you to make up a personal database of favored wines, with notes on everything you have tasted. Its search function and glossary are both simply designed and effective. The program also has some humorous touches that enhance the pleasure inherent in its use.

This CD runs a simple program and is fully compatible with older PCs and Macs. As such, it lacks high-end Flash animations or any of the other high-impact characteristics of newer adult educational software. What it has, instead, is a lot of information. Do you want to go on virtual tours of world vineyards, or widen your appreciation of the wines served at your favorite restaurants? Either way, Wines of the World Gold Edition will teach you the terminology, knowledge base, and fundamental skills to get you started down the road to wine expertise. --Alyx Dellamonica

Amazon.com Product Description
This Gold Edition of Wines of the World features a new design, an easier-to-navigate interface, and a database of more than 40,000 wines from international wine regions. The CD-ROM explains the importance of the grape, the vineyard, and the winemaking process. You can walk through the many steps of the vinification process to learn the methods of winemaking and discover the complexity of creating a fine wine. Experience this world of interactive information with your onscreen host, Ronn Wiegand, a well-known authority on wine. A bonus CD-ROM, The Best of Food and Wine, has been included free.

1. It will only install and run on Windows XP when set to run in Windows98/ME compatibility mode.

2. The title, although still for sale is no longer supported by the publisher and the online content (reviews) are no longer accessible. i.e. web links are broken.

3. While the database of older wines still works, the software is archaic and functions poorly.

The publisher of this software really needs to remove it from distribution, what a rip-off!!!!


no web based browsing   January 5, 2003
Sharon Martinez (Denver, CO)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Gold Edition Wines of the World came out of the package and loaded in like a dream after we changed the compatability to run on a top of the line operating system. The information that was loaded in was great and presented very slickly even without Shockwave. When it came time to set up the web browser is when things got interesting. Trying to get the browser to work took over and hour. When it finally did work the web site for the software was nonexistant. So we called the tech support 1-800 number to get a little help. Imagine our surprise to be directed to an adult phoneline. Oh Boy. So we called long distance to the company to get a little help. No luck everyone was out for the holidays and would not be back until the new year (wish my employer had this type of setup). Since this was a gift we ended up looking like total shmoes and took the gift back with promises to find something else. We have since decided to keep the software ourselves as we cannot return it. We currently are in contact with the company that produces it to find an amicable solution to get this software to work. Long and short of the review is that it has great infrormation, but poor web based browsing.