I had a jarring experience today. I was challenged on my usefulness as a wine blogger. I’d never yet had a discussion with anyone about wine blogging who, while familiar with genre, saw absolutely no value in it. I can quote her: “Why spend time writing about a drink when there are so many other important things happening in the world? It just seems wasteful.” She had a point. The cultural and social consequences of wine appreciation and the wine…

Let us consider the nature of "risk". I’ve always considered Risk to be the downside of reward or, as it’s been pointed out in my case, the downside of the pursuit of pleasure. Either definition will do, I suppose. Have you noticed, as I have, that the regulatory agencies of our various levels of govt as well as more than a few non-profit concerns rarely deal in the pleasure and reward that is the other side of Risk? This is…

I have reason today to think about the idea of sharing with someone else not just the wines you open on a daily basis, but sharing your wine life with another person. Sitting with a bottle in front of you and corkscrew in hand is an anticipatory experience. There’s always that chance you’ve hit on one of those wines you’ll just remember forever. Of course, it could be a dud too, a wine you remember because it sunk so far…