Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

Dec 3, 2012

Wine Writing, Relevance and Obituaries

“You, know, the rule of thumb is that once you’ve done something for 10 years, you’ve created one sentence in your obituary, maybe a paragraph if the writer is feeling frisky.” This was the response blurted out by a gentleman after he learned that I’d recently completed my 8th year of blogging about wine here at FERMENTATION. I was introduced to him at a party last night and he mentioned that he’d read this blog. He asked how long I’d…

Oct 8, 2012

Copulating Corpulent Wine Critics–Coming Soon

“Clyde Craven-Jones” Not a bad name for a wine critic. So no surprise that it is the moniker that springs from the imagination of James Conaway, who has begun excerpting his forthcoming novel “Nose” on his blog—appropriately entitled “Nose”. “Nose”, which will be published by Thomas Dunne Books (St. Martin’s Press) early in 2013, is Conaway’s third writing foray into the world of wine. His first two books were non-fiction successes that focused on the culture and environment of Napa…

Aug 31, 2012

The Demise of a Wine Blogger’s Hero

I’ve been attempting to understand the meaning of Gore Vidal’s death since the unhappy day I was confronted with his demise. I get the sense that Gore’s death may mark either the finish of a writer who I loved reading and related to or it may mark the end of an important chapter in American letters. Either way, a great inspiration for this writer has been lost. I don’t know much about Vidal’s relationship with wine, other than he drank…