I really enjoy wine.

I enjoy shopping for wine, drinking wine, talking and writing about wine, reading about wine, making wine (I’m part of a wine co-op that produces 250 cases per year), traveling to wine regions, tasting wine, and so forth. I do not (so far anyway) collect wine as an investment or purchase wine futures.

I have wine nearly every day, mostly with dinner. I enjoy many kinds of wine and enjoy exploring everything from wine shops to wine regions to find new wines to enjoy. There are more important things to do with your life, and I do some of those things, too, but wine is a nice part of my life.

My philosophy of wine, which will largely inform this blog, is that wine is to be appreciated and enjoyed. By appreciated, I mean that it is important to recognize the amazing thing that wine is – a beverage that has been crafted for over 6,500 years by nearly every culture on the planet (even if you limit this statement to grapes only). Fine wine is crafted by amazing people who grow grapes and make wine using a wide variety of techniques, practices, and equipment. Wine is a living thing – it is never exactly the same at any level, whether from bottle to bottle or vineyard to vineyard. In fact, wine changes appreciably about every ten minutes that it is in the glass!

By enjoyed, I mean that wine is to be savored on its own AND it brings entirely new dimensions to many kinds of foods. Enjoyment also includes the wonderful social aspects of enjoying wine with friends, or with people you just met. And you can enjoy wine right away – you don’t need years of experience and wine education to enjoy wine. Appreciation of wine does increase with experience and education, but it is available to everyone.

So I encourage you to find the wines that YOU like and to enjoy them the way that YOU like to enjoy them. If that means white wine with a steak, so be it. If it means that you disagree with Robert Parker or another wine critic over how good a wine is, so be it. If it means that you prefer Charles Shaw Cabernet to Plumpjack Cabernet – well, we have to draw the line somewhere!

In short – this blog is about appreciating and enjoying wine. Not from the standpoint of the experts and the high-profile critics, but from the perspective of finding your own way in the world of wine. I will share my (and my wife, Dorianne’s) explorations and adventures with you and perhaps you will find some value in that. The goal is for you to find your own way. So, get ready to pop a cork or unscrew a cap, and let’s begin!