It’s been three weeks since my last confession, er, installment of the Backward. Between travelling and the standard domestic chaos, I’ve been a little busy trying to keep up with everything. And staring at the stockpile of samples sitting anxiously upon the table in the TPS Tasting Studio, there is no cessation of besotted meanderings ahead.
I continue in my bewilderment at both the blogosphere and the standard-bearing print media of wine, and wonder with astonishment in how the debate persists that the old vanguard is a dinosaur and the new blogger elite is poised to take over. I remember when I used to travel down that avenue of thought. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. I’ve said recently I won’t really get involved in the debate, and I have grown tired of strutting around like a steroid-induced rooster, grousing about the evils of the folks in print media like Steve Heimoff from Wine Enthusiast or Charlie Olken over at Connoisseur’s Guide – writers I have grown to really respect.
I think back to an email conversation I had with Thomas Matthews from Wine Spectator when I first started blogging, just 5 years ago (which feels like a friggin’ eternity now); the argument, albeit a civil one, about wine ratings, and that there really should be a better way to convey to consumers the quality of a particular wine, however arbitrary it may be. These days my perspective seems a bit more forgiving – it takes more than one tool to build a house (just like it takes more than one tool to be on Fox News, but I digress…).
It does seem like a lot of bloggers look for a fight. Not a good way to attain any level of respect, now that I think about it. I certainly was guilty of posturing for the sake of adding “hits” to my site.
These days, I find myself doing what I initially set out to do – chronicle all the wines I taste as part of my job as a retail wine buyer, offer unique observations about this crazy business, and in some way, shape or form, illustrate how it relates to me personally, and the world around me microcosmically; after all, this is a local wine blog.
There are thousands of wine blogs out there, all clamoring to get noticed – that is nothing new. And there is still a strong contingent of wine writers out there actually making a living at it, still offering insightful commentary in a business that is constantly changing. There is room for everybody.
Wine Reviewed: 152 wines in 3 weeks, plus 1 beer, 1 spirit, and a lot of uncounted wines from #DefendAustralia Symposium and the CIWF!
Wine of the Weeks: There were quite a few from the #DefendAustralia symposium…
Good news in the wine biz: My favorite metal band launches a new brew.
Bad news in the wine biz: We lost some major figures in the wine world in Jim Barrett and Henri Krug.
Disturbing news in the wine biz: More on the aforementioned debate… And not sure how to feel about the Anne Gros-Diageo deal… Wine Advocate sues Antonio Galloni…
On the homefront: I find myself becoming less and less enraged by politics. Call me whatever, but the constant bickering between parties sounds more and more like two spoiled little brats fighting over one toy. Fire the whole lot of them, I say. But in the grand scheme of things, it all seems such bullshit when I have a wife at home fighting through poor health on a daily basis. This is in no way a pity party for either of us. This is just about perspective.
It’s easy to lose perspective in the midst of life’s little challenges. You have a bad day at work, flat tire on the freeway, you bounce a check or miss a payment – it all becomes moot when you are watching your spouse getting loaded into the back of an ambulance.
I was reading this morning about a little girl who, after her father careens down a ravine, 200 feet, and is severely injured and unconscious, trapped in their Ford Escape, crawls out of the car, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, all of 9 years old, and tries to find help for her injured dad.
She wasn’t able to find help in time, but she never doubted the fact of what she had to do, and she is just 9 years old!
We whine and complain about petty shit all the time, yet when the chips are down, and we’re faced with real-life-and-death shit, we have two options: bitch about it, or do something about it.
And when it comes to politics, you can bitch about your elected officials, but bottom line is, you voted for these dunderheads, whether in a primary or in the general election. It’s no wonder politics are a mess. And it’s no wonder I no longer worry about it. As the old adage goes, I have bigger fish to fry.
What is on my playlist?: Newsted, Parliament Funkadelic, The Who
What wine(s) is (are) impressing me right now at the store?: First Drop Half-N-Half 2010, Dandelion Shiraz-Riesling Lion’s Tooth of the McLaren Vale 2010, Breca Garnacha 2010
Recommended reads, blog or otherwise: Anything Walt Whitman
What’s on tap for this week?: A shitload of samples from Pedroncelli, Chapoutier, Bibi Graetz, Arizona Stronghold, The Crusher, Vine Street Imports and so much more.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
THE DRUNK BACKWARD RESURRECTED: LONG OVERDUE CONFESSIONAL, THE WORLD OUTSIDE AND IN, AND RANDOM BITS OF QUASI-MATTER
Out in the Big World: I haven’t done one of these posts in quite some time. Not sure why. A lot of things have transpired since last I freestyled. The world has lost some celebrities, there have been bombings and murders and crooked politicians and – oh wait, not much is different really.
I’ve been dreading writing this post primarily for what happened in Boston and in Texas. Macrocosmically, it was a horrible, horrible week the past two weeks. And with all of the madness, you’d think the guys on the Hill would want to make their constituents safer. But all you here is a whole lotta special interest posturing, on both sides of the fence, and only a few brave individuals looking to bridge the gaps and bring the country together.
Now I am sure I have just whipped up a partisan shitstorm with the previous paragraph, but in a time where it seems that evil is all that is happening in this world, shouldn’t we as citizens of this fine planet band together to stand up for what is good and decent? Maybe I am being too “New-Age-y” or something, but I feel like, at least here in the states, the time to be either extreme-left or extreme-right is over, and the time for being one Nation is now.
On the homefront: My wife has been sleepwalking a lot lately. And it seems like my patience just went into a state of permanent hibernation. I’ve been a rabid bear around the house and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. At present, my job situation is the best it’s been in years. I can honestly say that I have never been this happy with my state of employ. Yet when I get home, it’s just GRRR! ROARRR! ARRGGH!
What is wrong with me?
I have a good woman in my life. The best. She has been a rock for me, despite how sick she has been. I have been the biggest A-hole ever. She doesn’t deserve that. I guess I have come to realize that what I have been doing is overprotecting her. Always afraid something bad is going to happen to her, I am creating a state of self-fulfilling prophecy at home, and it’s just not good.
Since coming to terms with the overprotectionism, things have quieted down. I am giving her some space. She is still having health problems, but instead of me being a smothering vulture, asking her every 2 seconds if she’s okay, I am trying to figure how to take care of her without being so overbearing. And I am trying to keep the bear locked in a cage somewhere far away.
On another subject entirely, 26 years ago today, my father, Larry Thomas Keith, left this world for the next one. It continues to blow me away that my father has been gone from my life longer than he was in it. At 46 years old, he died at the age I am at right now. He was a brilliant man who suffered with a severe form of diabetes. It wasn’t perfect, so it only stands to reason I am, in that regard my father’s son. I wonder though what he would think about where ended up in life, what I chose to do for a living, how he would feel about my wife, etc., etc.
I think most often though about what he told me when I was young, about technology. He used to say, “son, if you don’t know how to use a computer when you get older, you’ll be lost.” What would he even think about smartphones, iPads, Facebook, Twitter? I think he’d crap all over his floppy disks, that’s what I think.
I know at least, he would be glad I was happy, and that he would love my wife very much. We’d share a laugh at how farcical my life had gotten during the rock ‘n’ roll days, and how stupid I became after that. He’d be glad I went back to college and got the degree he didn’t get, though he’d probably point out I was a dumbass for majoring in English.
If he were alive today, he’d be 72 right now. Yet he isn’t. He is somewhere else, be it Heaven or elsewere, with a new family, new hopes and dreams. I can only hope he remembers his son, his daughter (my sister), and his wife (my mom), at least the impression that despite all the drama, we were a family, united, loving and one.
Wines Tasted This Week(s): 199.
The Standout(s): All of the Bello Family Cabs.
What is on my playlist?: More Alice in Chains. More David Bowie.
What wine(s) is (are) impressing me right now at the store?: Alpha Box and Dice Mistress 2009. Chateau St. Georges 2009.
Recommended reads, blog or otherwise: Jack Micheline
What’s on tap for this week?: Trying to catch up on the overabundance of samples, various sundries from the likes of Jellybean, CIV USA and One Hope, and who knows what else.