It’s hard for me to believe, but since I started my gig as the Answers.com wine dude in the Spring I’ve penned 100 articles for the category (yes, it’s a paying gig; no, I’m not part of their recently announced guest blogger program).
So far, it’s been… well, great, actually.
I’ve been able to find a perfect outlet for product/accessory reviews and wine book reviews on Wine.Answers.com, as well as a means to offer beginner-style advice that otherwise here on 1WD might get flamed to a black, ashy crisp suitable for high-tasted barrel staves by you geeky people (and I love you for that!).
And so today I write not just as a round-up of some of the December 2013 Answers.com wine articles, but find myself reflecting on the past 100 articles and the several months I’ve spent authoring content for gig that are now under my thick black Santa-style Christmas belt. The short version of that reflection is that I’m enjoying the hell out of it, and as far as freelancing “day jobs” go, this one is rockin’ like Dokken (do they have a Christmas album?).
Anyway… here are a few of the December 2013 entries for you to peruse before your holiday libations have you too drunk to read any more…
- First and foremost, some tips for winter / holiday season wine pairing (hey, people want it so I gotta give it), wherein we harken back to a bunch of other Answers.com wine content you might have missed.
- Two product reviews this month: one, the no-frills portability of Wine2Go’s inexpensive wine flask, and the expensive but totally, too-legit-to-quit Savino Wine Preservation Glassware system (seriously, I threw the excellent 2007 Pewsey Vale The Contours Riesling at that thing, and what came out nearly one week later was almost as fresh as a newly-opened bottle… both the wine and the Savino itself are crazy good).
- Three things you didn’t know about Franciacorta (in case you want to sound cool when you pour some alternative bubbly on New Year’s Eve… and admit it, you want to do both).
- A few book reviews crept in there this month as well, including the inevitable praise for the 25th Anniversary Edition of Kermit Lynch’s excellent travel memoir, and a highlight of what has got to be one of the most unique takes on learning wine geography (via coloring book) that I’ve ever seen, namely The Wine Lover’s Coloring Book by Louise Wilson. And I (finally) got around to reading A Carafe of Red, one of the collections of Gerald Asher’s essays (here’s the – somewhat glowing – review).
- I threw in a potentially controversial one: some of the best wine websites for beginners (based on my own experience, but also on feedback I received from you people via twitter and The Book of Face). [ Full disclosure: I’m friends with of the folks who run three of the sites featured in that round-up, and I have fiscal relationships with three of them as well; but those entries were mentioned by you when I asked which sites were great for beginners… I can’t help it if I already had the good sense to have been working with them before you selected them! ]
- Finally, if you dug our live geek-out on The Punch Down Episode 9 with rabble-rousing wine scientist Clark Smith, don’t miss my extended interviews with him in which he highlights some of the most common winemaking adjustments (see Part One and Part Two).
Cheers… and Happy Holidays! Stay safe, lushes!!