Yes, I’m using hyperbole here to make a point. I don’t actually hate myself. I’m a pretty fucking cool guy, actually. Ask anyone. Except Carl. That guy has never liked me, and I couldn’t for the life of me tell you why. He’s just a dickbag.
So, I haven’t published a review of a wine here since September 23rd (68 days ago, if my math is right), and I haven’t written anything interesting that isn’t a review of a wine since June 29th, if ever. Am I a failure?
No, I don’t think so. Well, yes, actually, I am in some ways. But not in this way and not for this reason. I’m not a failure, I’m bored. And I thought for a while that I was bored because wine blogging is boring.
I’ll be totally honest. For a while now, I’ve considered ditching this thing altogether. Not actually nuking it, or anything. I’d leave it up for posterity, or whatever. But “officially” retiring from the “profession” that never earned me a “dollar” or got me any attention outside a small band of incredibly dedicated—and, might I say, inexplicably into me—wine peeps. But what kept me from doing that? The off chance that someone would send me yet another shitty (but free!) bottle of wine.
My wife and I like to cook with it.
But that sucks. That’s a shitty reason to keep doing this. So, I was forced to examine what might be going on. Why am I bored? Is it true, what I think? Is wine blogging, at its heart, a boring, lackluster pursuit?
I don’t think so. But the way I’ve been doing it, I’m surprised none of you (if there is anyone reading this, of course…) took me into the back forty and Ol' Yellered me months ago.
Reviews, reviews, reviews. Of Italian wine you’ve never heard of, and can’t get ahold of, or of Livermore stuff I stumble upon, or of free plonk dropped at my doorstep.
OK, not all the free shit was actually shit, but a lot of it certainly was. Most of it.
Grades? Points? Badges? No indicator of joy or sorrow other than the overwrought wording spewed out onto the screen? Does it matter? Perhaps, I should simply change up my system. Thumbs up/down? One-to-five stars/glasses/bottles/winery PR flacks? Something Hardy Wallace-esque, with a randomness that his lighthearted good-naturedness brought across as joy, while my suburban cynicism would suck all the fun out of? Suck all of the fun out? Of? Ending the sentence with a preposition… there I go again…
Or, do I ditch the idea of writing reviews at all? Then what to write about? How social media in the wine world is awesome/sucks/is a blessing/curse/harbinger of utopia/doom? Touring the handful of local wineries I can get to on my meager resources? Pretending like my closest AVA, the Livermore Valley, is just as important as the big dog regions, and dedicate all writing solely to it and the few-dozen wines worth drinking from there?
Should I spend my time pissing people off like the HoseMaster of Wine used to do before he started writing wines up for Lot18.com? Should I focus on making fun, but ultimately ridiculously silly pop culture mashups like those TV Show pairings I did a year ago?
I don’t know. I know I’m bored, though. I had intended to sit down here and review a 2008 Ruche from Piemonte before staring blankly at the empty screen and saying “fuck it,” and shutting everything down.
I popped the blog admin back open, and penned this instead.
You’re welcome?