Wine: And Through Me You Shall Know Truth
Loam Baby: A Wine Culture Journal is a very familiar thing provided in a very antiquated package.
Loam Baby (Vol 1) arrived at my home by mail because it is in print form. Yet, upon opening this little black volume and reading it cover to cover, I felt like I was reading a wine blog. Its contents, a collection of interviews, ruminations and location guides covering 66 pages of pulp could have easily been delivered digitally in the form of a blog.
PR/PROMOTIONAL LESSON: Loam Baby seems far more substantial than it is because it is in print form, you can hold it in your hand, and it takes up space.
The author of Loam Baby uses two pseudonyms: Loam Baby and RH Drexel. According to an interview with the author by Blake Gray, the “RH” stands for “a location (a private home) in New Orleans” and the “Drexel” stands for “Katherine Drexel, whose legacy I greatly admire.”
OK.
I want to recommend this little journal primarily because it is a quintessential example of a trend around the wine world and among its most fanatic fans that has taken powerful hold: Wine as a metaphor for our personal lives.
The various interviews within Volume 1 of Loam Baby, primarily of various wine industry members from the Santa Barbara region, depict very thoughtful, soulful folks who appear to understand wine as a way to filter their own understanding of the meaning of life. This approach includes the author, who reveals his own thoughtful perspectives on living a meaningful life through wine in his questions and comments strewn throughout his interviews with various folks.
Within Loam Baby there is talk of “authenticity”, “humility”, “grace”, the generosity of passing on knowledge and personal vision and how all this is wrapped up in wine. It’s not a new theme. And the metaphors used by the interviewees and the author, all of whom appear to honestly find some sort of ultimate meaning in their work with wines and vines, are offered sincerely it seems to me.
Another interesting theme that runs through Loam Baby is the negative impact of judgement and need to overcome the impact of 
judgement within the wine industry. Loam Baby provides various meditations on the impact of judgement (upon wines and wine styles) in the interviews that are conducted, in cartoons and in the focus that the journal places on the importance of letting one’s true self be depicted through the wines one makes and consumes.
I dare say that Loam Baby will act as an inspiration for many people who take the time to ready it cover to cover. Its contents provide a fairly intimate glimpse into the lives and ideas of people who have allowed wine to act as grounding agent and projector of feelings, emotions and desire.
Volume 2 of Loam Baby is in release now. I’m happy about this. Too often these kinds of projects burst on to the scene, splash, then disappear when the ripples fade. It appears based on the appearance of Volume 2 that “Loam Baby” could go on a run.
A fantastic new voice in wine writing. A total joy to read and virtually absent of the cynicism that grips so much current wine journalism. Truly works to capture the joy that drew most of us to the business in the first place. Check it out for sure!!