Undertaking Wine

That’s what I am asking myself today.  I am sure some of you who have read this and continue to read this blog are asking as well.  And rightfully so.  It has been over a month since I posted and I think I posted 3 times in 2 months.  This blog fell off the deep end and I never threw a life preserver.  Is there still a chance to save it?  I think so.

There is bullet list of reason for my blog tanking.  But lets face it, after May, it got real empty here.  Sure, I could blame running around after a one year old.  Or  how about the fact that my duties as President of the Medford Chamber of Commerce started to take its toll.  Another reason, the loss of my grandfather is one that I still struggle with.  Could I blame the secrete society of unnamed wine tasters that I run, it has consumed alot of my time.  Or how about my work, we have had one of the busiest years in over 3 years.  Pick one, any one, they all work.

One of the many reasons I started to tread water with blogging was due to the fact that I was just not delivering the goods.  My writing sucked ( I am not a writer at all, and I don’t pretend to be).  The more I wrote, the worse my posts seemed to be.  I got bored writing about what I was tasting.  But I never got bored tasting.

Another reason that weighted heavy on me is the fact that maybe I was too honest.  There is not an evil bone in my body and I always look for the good in everything and by doing that I try to pump things up and make them bigger than what they are.  That sometimes can cloud ones view.  I thought to myself, maybe if I was just honest instead of trying to coax something out of nothing.  That is one thing I think I will always struggle with.

However, one of the main problems that came into play this year was a story I could have written, a negative story about trials and tribulations of a vineyard.  It would have been about neglect and ultimately loss.  I had some inside scoop and I could have been a real reporter and reported about things from the inside.  It would have fit in to my thoughts of bringing you my adventures in wine country.  But because I am a cheerleader of the Long Island wine country, this story would not have fit me, it would have changed me and who I am on this blog.  It could have hurt people and it could have excelled me as a reporter.  I chose not to write about it and take the high road.  I even thought of writing it as a ghost writer and publishing it elsewhere, in the end I chose not to.  It ate at me all year-long.  Since it ate at me, I pushed myself further and further away from my blog.  And it hurt my blog.  That one story I could have written and did not write  weighed on me and hurt the stories I tried to write and never got to write.

I never got to write about the great tasting I had with Raphael’s new wine maker Les Howard and how his 2010′s were doing and the interesting direction he was taking his wines.  I never got to write about Anthony Nappa’s Winemaker Studio’s grand opening.  I never got to write about the opening of Empire State Cellars either.  I never got to talk about Evan Dawson’s great book “Summer in a Glass” which I found so inspiring.  I was never able to write about the 2008 Merlot Tasting I held for my tasting group ( I may try to resuscitate that one) .  I never got to visit with Kelly at Macari, or Patrick at Shinn, or visit with Jake at Jamesport. The barrel tastings I did with Edward at Pindar and the tastings at Channing Daughters never saw the light of day.  I never got to talk about the Cabernet Franc Tasting for HARVEST at Clovis Point and more importantly, I never got to work an hour of harvest this 2011 season.

I am not beating my self up here, I am just trying to be honest and let you know what is going on in my head.  What inspired me to “rant” about this were two blogs.  The first one, The Passionate Foodie, Richard Auffrey’s well done adventures in wine, food and sake his rant, “Wine Bloggers, I Call You Out Once Again” put all bloggers up to a challenge.  And another, Evil Bottle’s post, “The Wine Blogger Dilemma”, both made me think and reassess what I am doing here on my blog.  Last year, Richard put all bloggers up to a challenge and I failed at it.  This year he called us out once again and I am going to try to redirect this blog.  The Evil Bottle is a new blog for me, one I found when reading Richards post.  Both of them made me stop and think and now I am in the process of refining things here on my blog.

So where is this going to go, what am I going to bring you in 2012.  I think I have the answer.  Honest wine reviews.  Interviews with the people in wine country.  And the occasional barrel tasting, wine country events I attend and some random thoughts of mine.  Nothing less than that and if you happen to get something more, then we both will win.

I am not a wine expert, I hold no credentials.  I have a nose, a plate and an enjoyment for wine.  What I would like to do with this blog is bring you along with me on this educational journey.  I will let you know what I am tasting, what I thought of it and hopefully a little about what went into the bottle.  I am not going to score the wine, I am not going to recommend the wine and I am not going to tell you not to try it.  You should be able to pick them up from my posts.

I am also not a writer, like I said earlier.  My grammar will suck and there will be some run on sentences and spelling errors.  I will do my best to make it perfect, but after all, this dyslexic wine taster is “editing and publishing” my own stories.

One thing I would like to bring you, but I am not sure I will deliver it acutely is wine from other regions.  As my palate has expanded and I believe I have fine tuned it, I have tasted wines from around the world.  Some good, some eh and some bad.  This is important as my palate grows and as yours should as well.

So expect some subtle changes in the posts, maybe they will not be that noticeable.  I hope to post as often as I did in the past, three post per week, there were some weeks when I had as many as five.  No matter what happens on UndertakingWine.com, I want it to be productive and inspiring.  I want you to want to go out and buy that bottle of wine or visit that winery I talk about.  Let’s enjoy this ride again, I am looking forward to 2012 in wine country.  I hope you are too.