Wine blogging

One of the things I am most excited to blog about is wine. I want to use it as a tool to educate, not only myself but you guys as well. Plus, I really want to make it interactive - feel free to discuss with us when you drink any of the wines that we blog about. And I don't just mean Steph and Chip either!

For many wine drinkers, there is the misconception that each wine falls along some line from the lightest white to the fullest red, and each grape has its own place on that line. I mean, when someone who is used to the Pinot Noir-Merlot-Cab progression of US wines, what are they supposed to think when they see wines made from grapes like Tempranillo or Mourvedre? I worry that many people do not venture into other wine regions out of fear of the unknown, or that there is a comfort zone with wine that people settle into. I want to help remove the idea of this progression, and appreciate that each wine is different and brings something unique to the table. Remember - when you step out of your comfort zone, that is when the adventure begins!

My resolution this year regarding wine is to gain more of an understanding of the world of wine, and figure out some specifics as well. (Actually, I wish my resolution was more like Steph's, but we are working on a budget here! At least for the next 4 or 5 months.) I taste a Pinot Gris - what does it mean that it is from Oregon? How is it different from an Italian Pinot Grigio? I want to share this with all of you - Carrie will be my editor here, so you know that you are getting the facts right. (Really, I still need her to occasionally confirm that Burgundy wines are indeed mainly Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.) I worry that all of us see that a wine did well on Spectator, but we will only try it if it is under $20 or if it is one that we would at least recognize on sight. Really - when the top 100 came out, did you look everywhere for the Didier Dagueneau Pouilly Fume, or the Mondavi Cab and the Mollydooker? Did you look for the Yellowtail or did you look for the Mulderbosch? When the latest issue gives the Quinta do Vale Meao Duoro a score of 91, what the heck do those words mean? Where is this bottle in the wine store?

Several years back, we brought a Cote du Rhone to the Christmas party. It had a quality known as "barnyard" to it, which is something we actually like in a wine. However, I do not think that the enjoyment of that bottle was universal - every bottle of wine we have shared with Steph since then has started off with her asking, "it doesn't smell like barnyard, does it?" I want to explain what makes Bandol my favorite wine, and also give a description of what it is, where it is from, what wines are like it, why is it unique, etc. I worry that when we tell people about some wines that we have tried that they aren't familiar with, they are somewhat reluctant to try them out of fear that maybe the wines have some stank to them that they will find unappealing. Therefore, my blogs will probably have a book report quality to them as to let you know about the new wine we are into - we have accumulated a number of wine references over the years, it is about time that I started utilizing them!

My goal here is to let you guys know what wines we are into, in part so that we can dispel the notion that we like all of our wines to smell like manure. (PS - good quality wines can have a "dirty diaper" or a "cat urine" smell to them. Just a warning - I hope you guys will see what I mean!) I am not trying to be Andrea Immer here, but I don't want to be your Wine for Dummies either. I will assume a healthy interest and level of experience from any of you who decide to read the wine posts - I am not going to give the basics of wine tasting, but I am not going to give you a description of all 50 "Grand Cru"s of Alsatian wines either. We want to maybe open up some new regions to you that you may not be familiar with. (More importantly, when you get us the Quarts de Chaume Riedel glasses for the wedding, you will know exactly the characteristics of the wine we will drink from them in 15 years!) Now that Steph has the book, I can also use this space to explore the relationship of wine and food, and someone will know that I am not just making it up. You don't always have to have a light white with fish, or full red with steak - last weekend we had champagne and popcorn with a truffle butter.

Most of all, it will be a way for me to share a drink with the rest of you, despite the distance between us!