Blog, Interrupted

Well, it was bound to happen. After blogging 4-7 days a week for nearly three years without a hiccup or a hitch, something called LIFE intervened in early December and it's been almost two months since my last post. ("Interrupted" by Sebastiano Pitruzzello aka gorillaradio)

Since that time I've heard from some of you who asked if I was ok (I am--just inconceivably busy), and others who wanted to know what's up (a lot, actually, but nothing that I wish to disclose here and now!). While I was away, the comments sections for various posts were filled by interesting contributions from people selling all nature of things (I deleted the ones I found). All over the 'net, other wine bloggers wrote thought-provoking posts that I never managed to comment upon, though I did read them. And I was gratified and amazed that people actually bought the Pinot Noir I recommended in my last post and took the time to actually tell me that they were pleased with the purchase.

Against all odds, I did manage to carve out several hours to write blog posts this morning so you will be seeing some new content. Fingers crossed, this will be possible to do for the foreseeable future.

If I drop out of sight again, please be patient and hang in there. I'll be back. And stay tuned for posts on Monday and Wednesday.

Palate Press: the New Online Wine Magazine

Last week, Palate Press--an online wine magazine--was launched.

Hit by the double whammy of houseguests and a new academic term, the launch came and went without me commenting on it, but I wanted to take a minute to recommend the new venture to GWU$20 readers.

First, a disclaimer. I became involved in the project in its early stages, and have the role of "wine review editor." We hope to roll out the wine reviews next month, but until then I'm just a reader like you are--and I'm liking what I'm reading.

The reason is simple: there's an editor. W. R. Tish, who was the editor of Wine Enthusiast magazine for ten years.

Let's face it, the great thing about blogs is that there's no editor. The bad thing about blogs is that there's no editor--and everyone (and I do mean everyone) needs an editor. Editors do more than find typos and grammatical errors. They keep an eye out for balance, they make sure that there's a coherence to the stories being presented, they make sure that the content is varied, and they ensure that the writing is focused and sharp.

Editors need writers as much as writers need editors, of course. Publisher David Honig (you might know him from the 2 Days Per Bottle blog) and editor W. R. Tish (of Wine Skewer) have recruited some of the most dynamic wine bloggers to participate in the project. These wine bloggers are contributing their enthusiasm and expertise in articles that cover a wide range of topics of interest to readers like you. In the first issue, Andrew Barrow wrote a terrific piece on the food and wine of Alsace, Meg Houston Maker reviews Randall Grahm's forthcoming book, Been Doon So Long, Robert Dwyer examined common shelf-talker practices to determine whether they deceive consumers, Thea Dwelle explored the quintessential "American" grape Zinfandel, and Sonadora explored the social networking efforts of Twisted Oak Winery--and tastes some wine while she's at it. And, because there's always room for some pot-stirring, Arthur Z. Przebinda took on the nature of wine criticism itself.

I'm already looking forward to this week's stories on tasting groups, wine labeling, Walla Walla wine, brettanomyces, and more. So head over to Palate Press and check it out if you haven't done so already. Who knows where this experiment will lead, but right now it's already delivering excellent QPR.

Today on Serious Grape: Waving Goodbye to Expensive Wine?

I'm on the road for work, which means that I'm reading The Wall Street Journal. This paper is everywhere business travelers are: in lounges, planes, and hotels. I don't subscribe at home, but as it's Friday and the paper was outside my door, I turned to the "Tastings" column written by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher to read what two of my favorite wine critics had to say. (photo by filtran)

Essentially, they said that expensive wine was so five minutes ago. And then they made a surprising recommendation for this year's "holiday gift pick."

It's not expensive. It's not hard to get. But it will leave you wondering if America's expensive wine habits are on the brink of changing--for the better. What do I think? For my thoughts on their story, click over to Serious Grape, my weekly column on the excellent food site Serious Eats, and get all the details.

A Round of Applause for Dan Berger

Do you know the name Dan Berger? If you are an ordinary wine drinker, you should memorize it. In a world full of inflated scores and hype, he is always impressively level-headed about wine. Whether its writing for Appellation America, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, his own Vintage Experiences, or covering California wine for Tom Stevenson's annual Wine Report, Dan can be relied upon to notice wines less traveled, less expensive, and less manipulated. I knew I approved of his taste in wine when he said Navarro Vineyards Edelzwicker--one of the great wine bargains at around $12--was one of the most exciting wines made in California. (photo of Dan Berger from Vintage Experiences)

His most recent article in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat had me applauding, because in it he voiced something in print that I have long suspected in private: that where a wine comes from, the grape it's made with, and the price they're charging for it influences those blasted "objective" scores. Making wine in Temecula? Good luck getting a score above 85 from the mags. Making wine from Chasselas or Colombard? It's south of 86 for you, too. He mentioned two specific domestic wines that I've had made with each grape (the Berthoud Chasselas Dore and the McNab Ridge Colombard) that are excellent and I would concur with that assessment. Even better? Even in my expensive coastal grocery store where everything comes by covered wagon up and down CA-1 they're less than $15. But if your wine is inexpensive like these bottles it's even worse--that can't be any good, people conclude, or they'd sell it for more.

Go read Dan's article and keep your eye out for his writing. He's out there pitching for good, everyday wine that doesn't cost a fortune and is high quality and interesting. And in this time of economic downturns, market panics, and penny-pinching it's nice to have someone quietly pointing out that you don't have to mortgage your house to drink great wine.

Wine Book Club #4: Tasting Pleasure by Jancis Robinson

We'll be Tasting Pleasure during the dog days of summer thanks to the leader of the 4th edition of the Wine Book Club, Farley of Behind the Vines.

Tasting Pleasure: Confessions of a Wine Lover ($18; used copies available for under $2!) is a classic wine book written by one of the most illustrious wine writers in the world, Jancis Robinson. Known for her direct, witty writing style, Robinson talks about her career in the wine biz as it evolved from contributing writer to international wine expert. I'm hoping that some of the bloggers from the US wine biz join in this month and tell us how the inner workings of the UK wine biz differ from those on this side of the pond. And the book will also offer insights into the experiences of women and wine writing (as well as the wine world more generally).

When our attention wanes and our good intentions start falling by the wayside, we'll be reminded to pick up Tasting Pleasure when Michelle from My Wine Education "spins the bottle" and reviews Natalie MacLean's Red, White, and Drunk All Over. This is one of the more recent wine books written by a woman, and MacLean is open about following in Jancis Robinson's footsteps. The two books offer an interesting compare/contrast exercise in writing style and substance.

A surprising number of wine lovers and bloggers confess to never having read this book, and if you are one of them I hope that you will consider joining us for WBC #4. We only had three participants in June, and I'm hoping that we have at least four this time around. If you are a blogger, please publicize this event on your site and consider joining in. And if you are one of those widely-read folks who has read this book before, your reminiscences will be welcome, too--and you can leave encouraging comments below. Please post your "book report" on the due date of Tuesday, August 26. For more details, please see Farley's post, or visit our club pages on Shelfari or Facebook.

Coming in the September/October "back to school" edition of the WBC: a book that's hot off the presses that's written by a wine blogger. Stay tuned for details.

When Words Get in the Way of Wine

An interesting discussion broke out on Twitter a week or so ago among a band of wine bloggers. The topic was wine jargon--which terms did you use, which did you hate, which didn't make any sense to you. It was an interesting exchange, all the more so to me because I realized all over again that words--the currency of the wine writer--often get in the way of the wine we are trying to write about when we pick up a pen or hit the keyboard. (photo "Seduction," used with the kind permission of mofo)

It became even more interesting when people started to question the use of the term "brambly" in describing wine and labeled it "jargon." This didn't seem to me to be jargon, but something else entirely--I just didn't know what to call it. So I talked to some folks that know linguistics. It turns out that wine writers use three kinds of confusing words: jargon (technical terms about wine), dialects (terminology common to a group of wine writers), and idiolects (terms that a single wine writer comes up with; if sufficiently popular, idiolects can get shared and become dialects). So, we can confuse readers three different ways. No wonder people think wine geeks are, well, geeks--and that wine writing is often impenetrable.

Take wine jargon. Wine jargon can run from wine-making terms like malolactic fermentation to the technical words associated with tasting (such as attack, mid-palate, and finish) and with taste (extracted). QPR, incidentally--a term I use on this site all the time--is jargon, too, since it is the technical term for "quality to price ratio" in winespeak.

Wine dialects include terms like those on the tasting menu in the picture: lush, fruity, soft tannins, juicy. These are short-hand terms that wine writers use that they think have a consistent meaning, but which are sufficiently subjective that no one knows for sure. We use them anyway because they are the shared language wine writers use to talk about wine. After sufficient time reading and writing about wine, we feel comfortable invoking litchi fruit and passionflowers to describe a wine even if we wouldn't know either if we fell on top of them. A term like "brambly," is an example of wine dialect that may have the most meaning among wine writers of British descent who have tried to pick blackberries in hedgerows and found that the only ones the birds hadn't eaten already were under-ripe and a little woody in flavor. Still, wine writers all over the world (even those who haven't picked blackberries in a bramble patch on a July afternoon in Chipping Norton) use the term if they look it up and find that it matches the flavors that they are tasting.

As for idiolect (please note: no "t" after idio), one of the great recent examples can be found in the tasting notes of Gary Vaynerchuk on WLTV. His unique tasting vocabulary started off as an idiolect, but the popularity of the site is now turning his terms into a shared dialect among hundreds of loyal WLTV viewers.

You might be wondering why I am going on about this. The answer is that getting to know wine includes learning some new vocabulary, including jargon and dialects. This is true of lots of activities from sailing to running to swimming. Imagine being on a boat where a sailor tells you to lash the sheet to the mizzenmast and responding "speak English, you geek." No, you would expect to learn and perhaps even come to use proper sailing terms when you learned to sail. Learning the language of wine can be as important as learning the taste characteristics of Cabernet. And if you are a fan of a particular wine writer, you might need to develop an understanding of their unique wine descriptors, too. If you don't, you could find yourself stumped about a wine with a "metallic attack and lean mid-palate" or a "great QPR red with a brambly finish."

I try to use as little jargon as possible, but I use a lot of wine dialect and I'm sure some idiolect, too. But there are resources on the web to help you learn this wine vocabulary, so if you meet a term you aren't familiar with, Google it or look it up in a dictionary. Words may get in the way of enjoying your wine, but unless you go to Chateau Petrogasm I'm not sure there is an easy fix. Besides, it may be better to learn about the terms that you don't understand. What do you think? Do you think I use too much jargon/dialect/idiolect? How about wine writers in general? And, are there any particular terms that either stump you or annoy you?