Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Making a move out of the neighborhood, but home remains the vineyard


I've been at this for almost two years now, and to a large part it's a blog that has remained a largely a secret around the wine community. Much of that is my own fault: just not taking the time to bring it up to speed on Facebook and Twitter. Some of that has been the dinosaur syndrome -- not adapting quickly to new technology -- and a lot of it has just been the factor of time; i.e., not enough of it.

So it makes sense to move this to a platform where more should see it and be able to spread the word. I already blog
sports fan issues on pennlive.com here at the Harrisburg Patriot-News. As of today, I've also switched The Wine Classroom to its new address: http://blog.pennlive.com/wine. Please bookmark that address.

That's really all that's changing. I'd like to continue looking at the regional wine industry, focusing on those who are now old-timers in these parts (hello
Chaddsford and Blue Mountain and Boordy and Basignani, to name a few) and the many others who are just beginning to cast their fates in the soil and climate that provide a home for the vines. And by doing so, making more people who live in the mid-Atlantic some idea about how the wine industry is growing around them and where it's headed.

Still feel sometimes like I'm searching for my voice: It's neither
graperadio.com nor Gary Vay-ner-CHUK of the Wine Library, two of my favorites sources of information on wine. It's probably closer to Pierre Carafe, a favorite nickname bestowed by a previous colleague who's known to more people as Joe Sixpack than Don Russell.

While still feeling much the novice, I know much, much more about regional wines and wineries than when I started. And there's plenty more to discover. I'll be happy to share that knowledge as I'm learning.