Five Months In The Books || Notes From The Cellar

What a whirlwind it’s been. And we’ve only, it seems, just begun.

Five months ago I started this blog. Back then it was hosted on Tumblr, not on this pretty WordPress installation, design by yours truly, where you find it today. Not that anyone else really cares about that stuff.

I’m having a blast, though. And it seems like this is catching on with people. In the first full week after the blog launched, it hosted a total of 19 visits. While I’ve always blocked my home and work IP addresses from being counted in there, I’m sure a couple of those visits were my mom. The rest were probably just close personal friends.

Last week, there were 387 visits to Notes From The Cellar. People came from 15 different countries last week alone, and 32 of the 48 visits from Google searches were looking for wine advice, either by searching for a specific wine and vintage, or something like “good light red burgundy” or a white wine that is sweet but not overly sweet.

So, someone out there is paying attention. That’s exciting.

In the last five months I’ve reviewed 58 different wines. The pace is picking up, as well, with 20 reviews coming just in the short month of February. I’ve also started writing about wine, and not just reviewing it. One piece in particular got some attention. I like attention. Who doesn’t?

I’ve interacted with more and more people in the wine world, which is awesome. Back in October I had maybe 100 Twitter followers, and now, over 550. The Notes From The Cellar Facebook Fan Page is nearing 100 fans, which is awesome. Y'all have left over 200 comments on the site, and that’s just since the middle of January.

According to Google Analytics traffic info, here are the five most popular wine reviews, in order, here on “Notes”:

So the consensus seems to be I should keep reviewing (a) wine I don’t like, and (b) amazing Italian wine. Duly noted.

I’m just getting started, too. The Wine Blog Awards nominations start soon, and I’ll make no bones about it: I want to win. There are a few awards I think this blog at least deserves to get thrown into the ring for, and I’ll make my feelings clear when the nomination process begins. More reviews, more experiences, maybe some video, and god-knows-what-else are all in store in the next five months.

If you’ve stuck around this long, well, there really isn’t any reason to leave. You’ll miss all the best stuff. Stay tuned.