DISQUS

Joel has pinned the tail on the donkey. This is Wine 2.0! Everyone is free to opine and the shared experience - facilitated by Social Media technologies - benefits us all.

The way in which wine is perceived, evaluated, and enjoyed has changed. Unfortunately, the self-important dinosaurs facing extinction are saying whatever they can to justify themselves to their shrinking readership. "Wine Critics" are now just another set of individuals who are free to add their expertise to the discussion. They no longer have the last word. Sad that their leader/spokesmodel has to resort to petty insults and flinging his dino-poop around.

Parker should know better. As Hardy points out, Robert Parker, Jr was an Ur-blogger with the BWA in the old days. He should be a Paterfamilias to the wine blogging world. Instead he comes across as a tragic figure like Major Fambrough in Dances with Wolves who goes mad in his irrelevance and wets himself as he sends the next generation out into the wild.

<abbr>Check out Patrick Llerena’s last blog post - Someone Just doesn’t get IT</abbr>

Wait. I used to know a Blogger/Twino named Winehiker.... ;^ )

I've never even heard of this, but your piece makes me want to try to get my hands on it ASAP. Given the relative obscurity, I expect I will have to wait for your recipe so I can try to make my own. !Salud!

O.K. , gang. While most of these foods fall under the list of cultural hangover remedies, I still have an empty stomach here in the California time zone! I guess I fall between Gabi and Ryan; I'll try almost anything, but have learned to resist saying, "Oh. That's good...very interesting...Yes, Si, Oui, Ja. I'll have some more " out of mere cultural sensitivity while my innards churn. My darling wife is as polite as they come, but has nowhere near the undying devotion to my adventurous spirit that the Familia Opaz shares.

I'm all about mitigating climate change and all of us doing our part to protect our Little Blue Marble. Amorim should plant all the cork forests it can to help in its own way. However, until something can be done about controlling TCA contamination to an acceptable level, they can then sell cork to floor tile manufacturers and trivet makers. The contributions their industry makes to the green movement do not mitigate the damage they do to my industry.

Wow, Gabriella! I'll bet you weren't expecting this "Tempest in a Decanter" when you opened up this discussion. Great piece, though. I am fascinated by the topic.

I have a five year-old who has been a part of winery life since before she was born. My wife, Genevieve, spent the harvest of 2002 (her last trimester) directing cellar operations from a papa-san chair we set up on the crushpad. Malia was born just as we pressed the last wines to barrel and bottled our first Rose. After a few months, she was in her crib/playpen in the winery office and then back in the cellar with me in a backpack. From the time she was two, we started giving her smells and tastes of wine. She then started getting a little wine in her water at the dinner table. She knows what wine is. She has had exposure to the winemaking process, although she has probably helped more when we homebrew beer or cider. Malia knows that wine has a place at the table; it is an integral part of a meal in our home. I know that by educating her about wine and its place in life and society, I am not only enriching her life as a complete person, but I am also giving her the tools she will need to make adult choices about how she consumes alcohol.

Relational learning practices, like Multiple Intelligence, put learning into life contexts. Using grapes to teach a child to count in a wine-growing region, makes sense - in an urban or industrial setting, maybe less so. Teaching a teenager chemistry using practical examples will make them enjoy learning a great deal more than boring theories. Our children are taken on tours of the library, the fire station, the bakery, city hall - why not the local winery? Where I live at the confluence of the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valleys, children are surrounded by wine, tasting rooms, winery events, wine fundraisers for their schools, etc. Teaching them about winegrowing, winemaking, and wine will only enhance their learning. Jesus used many examples about winegrowing to make his points; he lived in a wine region. Perhaps this pedagogy works best when paired with what is relevant in the atmosphere around the place where the children live.

Alcohol does not make alcoholics. Attitudes, influences, genetics, personalities, and dysfunctions create alcoholics. I would argue that wine is, first and foremost, food. It is an addition to the table. Wine enhances our dining experience. The Sicilians have a great proverb, "Wine is the ultimate condiment." Yes, wine has alcohol. Yes, I have been inebriated on several occasions due to drinking too much wine. Do I drink wine to get drunk? Never. Do I turn down more wine when I feel I have had enough? Certainly. These are lessons that we can pass on to our children so that their lives may be as rich as ours.

Salud, Dinero, y Amor! Y Tiempo para Gozarlas!

--Patrick

Gabriella,
Pardon the schadenfreude, but this was truly enjoyable reading. We have ALL been at the conveyor belt, praying for our luggage - and more importantly our bottles - to arrive intact. It is refreshing that more of us are starting to write a little about the roles (good and bad) that wine plays in our lives. While talking about the industry, winemaking, and reviewing wines usually the blogger's focus, I have really enjoyed reading and writing about the context in which we live as winos.
Salud!
--Patrick

A person who charges for their writing - and actually gets paid - is a writer. Beyond that, I can only use language as example: In Spanish don't we say, "?Como te llamas?" That translates to, "What do you call yourself?" That is what is important to the person with whom you are interacting. Do you call yourself a writer?

Ryan- I thought I should share my response to Tom Wark's posting on this subject earlier this morning

Tom-
I agree with you in that "Professional" is rooted in "Profession". While we all do may things with our lives these days, I would hazard to say that few of us have more than one profession. My profession is a vintner: I own a company, I make wine, I market wine and I sell wine. That is my profession.

However, professionals are not the only experts and a professional is not necessarily an expert in the entire field. I am a winemaker, but I definitely do not consider myself an expert in Enology. I am a blogger, but I am neither an expert in writing nor am I an expert in computers. I am an expert in Roman Catholic Liturgy. I am an expert wine educator. I am an expert bodyworker. I am an expert bed-time story teller. Are there angles dancing on the head of this pin? Probably. Professional or expert may just be a semantic discussion.

To the meat of Ryan's posting: If a site charges a subscription fee or is supported by a print publication that does, they should pay you for your EXPERT reviews whether or not you are a PROFESSIONAL. Should any of us bloggers -expert or professional or otherwise - charge curious surfers? I think that might be a step over the thin line that makes US better than THEM.

There you go. Sorry I didn't get around to responding directly to you. It took my reminder this morning to get me going!