Talk-A-Vino

Last Thursday, November 20th, was exactly 4 month as I started writing this blog. Four month sounds round enough to take a look back – of course, of course, this is too short of time to make any conclusions, however, when in the journey, knowing where you are can help you understand where are you going and how can you get there. Let’s talk some numbers first – and not because they mean something, but because they are simply available, and we, humans, like to play with them.

So the blog stats for 4 month include 52 posts, 1975 views, 98 comments and 15 e-mail subscribers. Is that good? I don’t know. Is that bad? I don’t know either. These are just numbers as they are. Well, I think I like 52 posts – it translates into 13 per month, which then translates into about 3 per week. There are also some other numbers which I want to mention – the “treble journey“. In my quest to try wines made out of 300 different grapes (this is where “treble” is coming from), I was at 240 four month ago, and now I’m at 277 – 37 grapes were added. Considering the challenges of finding wines made out of obscure grapes, I think this is very decent performance. I also will add 15 more in the near future, which will put 300 within practical reach – yes, it will be all covered in this blog.

During this 4 month, I learned a lot. I learned how to find new subjects, how to use keywords. I didn’t learn how to use categories – I hope this will come one day. I found some themes which will definitely continue here, like Experiences and Expectations. I think I had some good posts, and some which are just okay. Did I have any bad ones? Quite possible, but I will let you, my readers, to be the judge.

What I definitely want to have more of is interaction. I want my posts to be a catalyst for the conversation. I would love for this blog to be the place to exchange experiences – and I will get there, sooner or later.

What is ahead? I didn’t know I’m asking myself a difficult question. I don’t want to convert this post into a to do list. Therefore – I can only say that I will continue to look for my true style, and you should expect more posts about wine, food and life.

Whether you are a wine lover or not, if you use any of the social media tools (I’m assuming you are if you are reading this text), such as Facebook or Twitter, I’m sure that you came across the picture below, at least once:

Exactly as the name says, this is an undertaking by Tom Wark (here is the link to Tom’s blog, Fermentation), who is putting a lot of efforts in defending the rights of all the wine drinkers in United States.

Believe it or not, but despite tremendous increase in popularity of wine in United States, all the wine consumers still have to deal with the laws stemming from the Prohibition era when it comes to access to one of the most noble and oldest (after the water) beverages on Earth. A few years back, many states started to change their laws in favor of the consumers, allowing interstate wine shipments (in other words, allowing consumers to pay less and get the wine the want). As of recent, HR 5034 was introduced in Congress, greatly threatening to again limit consumer’s access to wine to protect big businesses with big pockets. Tom Wark put a lot of efforts to defeat HR 5034, and he created American Wine Consumer Coalition to help all the wine lovers to protect their rights to get the wine they want at the prices which make sense.

If you like wine – protect your rights, join the AWCC and make your voice heard!

So finally this blog begins… After being contemplated for almost a couple of years by now ( with no good reason for the delay), it is a first post. It is almost mid-night here ( is there a rule that all the blogs are written around mid-night?), but final resolve is in, so no matter what, up to the risk of being pointless, it should go out tonight, and it will.

Many times I had a thought – what is so special about wine? Does it worth the time, and effort, and more over, the expense associated with it? To me, one of the great things about wine is a mystery. Considering the same vintage and the same bottling, no two bottles of wine will taste the same. When you open a bottle, you really don’t know what to expect – outside of possibility of the wine being spoiled, as wine is living thing eve after it goes into the bottle, there is always a room for a surprise. And the same familiar producer might have a good year, and might have a bad year, so if you loved 2005, you can’t blindly assume that 2006 will be equally great. Taste of wine is also will depend on your mood, on time of day, on the food you had before or with the wine, the friends you sharing it with and many other factors. That is why I see a mystery in every bottle – and this gives us an ability to enjoy solving the mystery in a simple way, every day when we want to.

Well, to the mystery in our lives – and a pleasure of solving it!