Welcome to Terroirist!

Posted by | Posted in Terroirist | Posted on 11-09-2010

Uploaded to flickr by vxla.

An introduction.

Until three years ago, I knew nothing about wine. But when I visited Napa Valley in October 2007 with a couple of friends — and visited Heitz, Vincent Arroyo, Frank Family Vineyards, August Briggs, Opus One, Failla, and Robert Keenan — all that changed. (In case you’re wondering, the “aha” bottle was a 2005 Failla Estate Syrah.)

Since then, I’ve been back to California wine country on several occasions — and I’m headed there again later this week. I’ve traveled to Mendoza and the Willamette Valley simply to taste wine. And because I live in DC, I’ve visited quite a few wineries in Virginia.

I’m a member of the Society of Wine Educators (pursuing a CSW) and studying for my advanced certification with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. And I’m a writer — check out my most recent pieces in Reuters (Why Does Warren Buffett Hate Oenophiles?) and the World of Fine Wine (States of the Nation).

I also visit a lot of wine blogs. And I’ve always wondered why there aren’t more group blogs — why more folks aren’t trying to offer a comprehensive look at the wine world, on a daily basis. That’s the goal of Terroirist.

Some wine blogs offer value recommendations. Others seek out hidden gems or catalogue tasting notes of impossible-to-acquire bottles. Some cover politics, others examine different viticultural and vinicultural techniques. Many cover the wine industry.

Terroirist.com was launched to change all that — by covering everything, daily.

I hope you’ll enjoy the site!

Comments (5)

  1. Best of luck with the CSW! It’s a lot of book-learnin’, but you seem like you’ll do just fine.

    Looking forward to what you’ve got here.

  2. Loved the Reuters article. We work with artisanal spirits and wines at PipeLine Brands– pure grass roots sales and brand activation. To get craft brands out in the market into the hands of consumers who crave them. The Three Tier System is such an antiquated and consolidated racket, especially with the wholesalers burgeoning power.

    Our fighting mantra is to get the artisanal wares out there…to not be ignored! The mega distributors force feed the large quota driven mega spirit brands on the retailers/bars restaurants just as they do the Sutter Home, Beringer and Kendall Jackson on the wine side. Even forcing ridiculous case buys of 100+ to get best price. The retailers are increasingly on the side of the little guy, thankfully, both with small suppliers and mini distributors. And the big guys are incensed. But spend and spend on lobbying to protect their legal power they and their self-preservation organizations do!

    Let the consumer and artisanal revolution flourish. Give the people the crafted wine and spirits they want and get the fat cat wholesalers reaping 25+ points nd ridiculous forced high volume buys OUT OF THE WAY.

    I sure wish Mr Buffet would see the light on the boutique and internet revolution going on in our business with sites like liquor.com, wine-searcher and yours. Maybe they drink too much Sutter Home, Beringer and Kendall Jackson in Omaha?

    Keep fighting the good fight and welcome to cyberspace, David.

  3. […] 2, Part 3. It’s no secret that I love the wines from Failla. In fact, I’m reasonably certain that I caught the wine bug on trip to Failla three years ago after tasting the ’04 Phoenix Ranch […]

  4. […] […]

  5. […] year ago today, I launched Terroirist.com. It’s been quite a […]