I write for a living, such as it is. In another line of work, I might now be long retired and living on an island so I can finish Ulysses or Long Day's Journey into Night, and I'd have time to open a Grange for fun now and then instead of having to slog through trade tastings and teach classes.
The fact that I still write for a living and do so as much as possible is testament to the fact that I am in love with what I do. And that is why I continue to reflect (cogently, I fervently hope) on the state of the art that is wine.
As a writer, I read. It's often the best way to get ideas. I also chat a lot with winemakers and winery owners, and I do a lot of thinking about stuff that will be important to the newsletter that my wife, Juliann, and I put out every week, the one called Vintage Experiences.
I firmly believe you cannot have a weekly (or even annual) newsletter on wine without cogency and relevance and have any staying power. What I write is more than simply tasting notes, which, in and of themselves, can constitute the most self-aggrandizing sort of claptrap, relating more to the person doing the blathering than to what's in the glass.
Often, such notes are a vain attempt to inculcate less self-assured acolytes. No varietal relevance needed. No regional typicity acknowledged. No context involved.
So my reading constitutes a basic sort of "research" into the demographics, sales, styles and terroirs of the beast that rules us and that seems to have a life of its own irrespective of sales trends, focus groups, advertisements and scientific studies.
Wine, too many people forget, is a beverage. Far too many people lose sight of this as they attempt to justify the use of sites. I refer, of course, to the Internet, that pernicious troll that has robbed a plethora of people of their person-to-person contact and reduced the number of hours we spend sipping some sublime potable that has a date as one of its raisons d'etres.
So what do I read on the Web? Not much.
The fact is, it is very easy to write a weekly wine newsletter with five articles and more than a dozen tasting notes as long as the vast majority of what you write is in reflecting on issues of the day about which others are already commenting. Blogs, Web sites and such constitute a vast array of comment on wine these days. Hundreds of sites and blogs and postings sound as if it's fodder for open discussions on all sorts of topics.
The problem is that I am a journalist. I got a degree in the field, worked in it for the Associated Press (10 years) and for daily newspapers another 18. I have done my newsletter in a journalistic fashion for the last 14-plus. I have written about wine since 1976.
Moreover, I have taken courses on winemaking (University of California-Davis) and the chemistry of wine and view this as a profession, not some lark to toss off after a day arbitraging.
And what I see on most of the wine blogs is entertaining; what I see on most sites constitutes sales pitches. It's not that there is anything inimical about any of this. It's actually rather harmless most of the time. But what it is usually is commentary that has not been researched or vetted, and often is so badly written and off-center that it fails the basic test of relevance.
Reading about wine on the Internet can be fun notably when one of the more thoughtful bloggers makes a contentious statement that is either short-sighted or insightful. Then I am prompted to react. But I only do actually react when there is a serious and vital point to be made, and usually one missed by the original perpetrator.
Once, a widely known blogger made an idiotic statement based on his opinion of something about which he had given probably little thought. The problem was he had not realized a side issue that made his original point pointless. Pointing that out to my readers was fun, since his idea sounded cogent until it was broken down syllogistically and found to be a non sequitur. So I do not read that blogger much anymore.
I do like a few blogs. They can be captivating and fascinating since they come from intelligent people with the skill not only to write, but also to think.
The top thinker in the world of wine is California wine writer Bob Thompson. He has no Internet presence, so that is out.
But the delightful Brit Jancis Robinson does, and her charming chatter can be superb, though a few bobbles in the last year leave me wondering if Jancis isn't spread a bit thin.
Similarly, I find James Halliday of Australia to be as engaging as any writer on wine with a regular Internet presence. His Australian Companion is definitely worth a look.
I also read Fermentation by Tom Wark, a California public relations professional who has as much inside-the-industry knowledge as anyone I read.
One site few will find on their own is Arthur Przebinda's www.redwinebuzz.com. I also read Dr. Vino (www.drvino.com) with enjoyment, and I get a charge out of Jeremy Oliver's Australian wine site (www.jeremyoliver.com.au).
And there are other sites I frequent infrequently. But most often when I'm reading a wine blog, it's as a result of a suggestion from a reader or friend.
But as a writer, I spend a lot more time putting my own thoughts down for my readers, after thorough research, and I leave the blogging to others.
Dan Berger is a nationally renowned wine writer who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif. He publishes a weekly commentary Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences (VintageExperiences.com).
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