一般來說，我們介紹的每款酒至少會有一名酒鬼品嚐並寫下日誌：通常會是Venus與Darren，但如果我們的酒伴朋友也同意的話，我們也願意把酒伴的品酒日誌貼上來，並且解釋他們的飲酒年資。我們引用不同品酒人(啊，不是，是酒鬼^^)的原因是為了反映每個人對同一種酒的看法或接受度。既然我們常常與酒伴們爭論酒的好壞，我們希望能捕捉這些熱烈的片段，傳達給讀者們。
一般坊間品酒，是依據一口酒的味道與品質來判定它的好壞。在「品酒瘋‧網誌」中，更包括了整瓶酒的適飲度：最後一杯是不是跟第一杯一樣好？ 大部分出版的品酒評分，是由專業的品酒師打的分數。這些品酒師可能一次得要試數十瓶以上的酒，所以他們評分的程序是：聞一聞、啜一口、含在口中轉一轉、吐掉、下一瓶。在這樣的情形之下，具有濃厚香味與口感的酒就會得到很高的分數。您如果依照評分花大錢買高分酒回家，不幸的話，可能根本連一杯都無法下肚，那真的會很冤枉。當然，這不表示我們不能相信一般的評分，大部分的高分酒還是品質很高的酒。身為「品酒瘋‧網誌」的資深酒鬼，我們願意犧牲我們卑微的肝臟，為您把整瓶酒喝下肚，絕不做“含在口中、吐掉“ 這種不尊重葡萄酒的奢侈行為。我們會整瓶喝完並誠實告知您一瓶酒的適飲度。
我們選擇部落格的形式發表我們的評分，這是因為這種方式讓我們能夠以比較經濟的方式發表。 您會發現我們的酒評比較深入也比一般坊間的品酒雜誌要長，這是個利用網路讓讀者多一個選酒依據的方式。
我們借用Decanter雜誌的評分標準：
20 – Outstanding (傑出)
19 – Excellent (極佳)
18 – Very Good + (非常好+)
17 – Very Good (非常好)
16 – Good + (好+)
15 – Good (好)
14 – Fair (還不錯)
13 – Adequate (一般)
12 – Mediocre (平庸)
11 – Poor (不好)
10 – Bad (糟)
<10 – Abysmal (很糟)
一般來說我們的酒是跟台灣的零售商買的，因此，我們喝到的酒跟大家一樣，是經過同樣的運送跟儲藏來到我們手中的 — 如果這些過程可能對酒造成的影響的話。
Each wine that is tasted will generally include reviews by more than one taster. If possible, the tasting notes of both Venus and Darren, will be included, plus any friends confident enough to allow us to post their notes. If their tasting notes are included, their level of experience will be briefly introduced. The policy of trying to include multiple reviews reflects the fact that people perceive tastes differently. We have spent many wonderful hours bickering amongst ourselves or with friends over a wine’s merits. We hope to capture some of that energy for our readers.
Each wine will be reviewed on the standard elements of taste and quality. But, here at The Dedicated Wino we go a step beyond and include a section on how the bottle drinks. Does the last glass taste as good as the first glass? Most published wine tastings are done by professionals tasting possibly a dozen or more wines in a single sitting – sniff, slurp, roll around in the mouth, spit and repeat. Typically wines with aggressive smells and flavors receive disproportionately high reviews because they stand out. That is fine for swirling and spitting, but when you take these highly rated wines home, it is an unpleasant surprise to realize the wine is so overbearing you’ll be lucky just to finish a glass. Of course this is not universal, many highly rated wines are very subtle. Here at The Dedicated Wino we are sacrificing our livers for you, none of that hoity-toity wine spitting for us. We will drink the entire bottle and inform you of the wine’s real drinkability.
The weblog format allows us to publish our reviews cheaply, so we are making our reviews longer and more in-depth than what you might normally find in a magazine. A good use of bandwidth that should help our readers make informed wine purchases.
We use a 20-point rating system based on that used by Decanter Magazine:
20 – Outstanding
19 – Excellent
18 – Very Good +
17 – Very Good
16 – Good +
15 – Good
14 – Fair
13 – Adequate
12 – Mediocre
11 – Poor
10 – Bad
<10 – Abysmal
Some of our tastings are done blind, a portion of the wine bottles in our wine cabinet have been placed into non-see-through bags and shuffled. But, we are social winos, and as you can imagine it is hard to choose a wine to compliment a meal with friends if all your wine is in opaque bags. So, the majority of our wine tastings are not done blind. We will state when it is a blind tasting.
Generally the wines have been purchased through a Taiwanese retailer. Thus, our test wines have experienced the same transportation and storage as the wines our Taiwanese readers encounter.
Darren Haughn & Venus Chen (c) 2008-03-08
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