Fifteen years in most cases is a relatively young age. But for a wine blog? It’s ancient. Some would say passé. Lord knows, I’ve tried a lot of different things to keep it upright and sailing right along. But It is work. No doubt about it. Although it is also a labor of love.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not quitting or hanging it up. Not yet. I still have things to say, and if there are people who still want to read what an elderly white male who came from the wine trade has to say, I’ll forge on. But there is a life to everything, whether it is a bottle of wine, a human life or a relatively insignificant wine blog.All this to
say, I’m glad to have made it this far. And grateful to the impressive volume
of readers who come to this site once a week for my essays.
What still gets
me excited about my “Sunday sermons?” Well, there is no lack of drama or change
in the world of wine. And as I’m, more or less, specialized on this blog in
Italian wine and culture, for sure there is plenty to write about. But, that
said, I’ve pivoted from the newsy and gossipy to what most people perceive to
be a bit more esoteric of paths. And there is more than one path. I’ve been experimenting
with this blog in those areas, for those who have been following. I love science
fiction. In fact, I love stories. And I don’t think they always need to be the
hard factual stories a journalist cuts their teeth on (I have my wine column
in the Dallas paper for that). I’ve probably written this a time or two on
these posts, but one time when I was sitting there having a bottle of wine with
Eric Asimov, he asked me “What is it you’d really like to write about?” I
cannot believe I spontaneously answered to him, “Oh, I’d love to write a
science fiction novel!” Yeah, I said that to the nephew of one of the greatest
science fiction writers of all time, Isaac Asimov. But I did do that. And even
though it was momentarily embarrassing (to me) there was more than a kernel of truth
to my affliction for science fiction. And some of that has been bleeding onto
these pages.
But writing
is not at the top of my queue. Nor is wine, really. Italy still commands a lot
of space in my world, real or imagined, for sure. But it’s the visual part of
this world that really has me hooked. I’ve been a photographer for 55 years.
That’s 80% of my life. My (analog) darkroom is fifteen steps from my (digital)
office. So, there’s a reckoning coming. Everything is ready. I’ve been to Italy
more times than I could remember, if I didn’t keep a spread sheet of those 59
treks back to the wellspring of so much inspiration and affection.
The Italy I
knew in 1971 is nothing like the Italy I hope to revisit in 2021. Think about
it, a half century. Holy crap, it’s a little scary! But I like what I see, even
when I close my eyes and imagine what it must be like. Thanks to films, music,
friends, and any number of other connective ways, Italy stays in touch with me.
And when the screens go dark, there is always the invisible, the imagination,
the dreamscapes that keep sending me messages, keep staying up with those of us
who are listening.
While I’ve gone over my 800-word limit (again) I want to thank you for being here all these years and for commenting and reading and coming back from time to time to check in. I’m not going anywhere, yet. There still is a lot of Italy, her wine, and my real (and imagined) realms to discover.
