Good Grape Goes on Hiatus

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” said a very wise John Lennon and that’s exactly what has happened with me.  My life has kept apace, even as I’ve made plans to be a respected wine writer.

By most standards, 2011 has been a very good year.  I was a three-time finalist in the Wine Blog Awards, earning notice in the Best Overall Wine Blog, Best Industry Blog and Best Writing categories.  I started contributing a wine column to Forbes.com.  This site was named the 2nd most influential blog (and most influential wine blog) out of 4,000 blogs in a 2011 Wine, Beer and Spirits study by eCairn, a software company specializing in community and influencer marketing.  I was a panelist at Vino2011 in New York City, I won a scholarship to the Wine Writer’s Symposium in Napa Valley, and I turned down enough worldwide wine trip offers to fill a two-month calendar.

Yet, wine writing has exacted a toll.  I approach anything I do with a zeal and fervor that ensures me the success that I want and I’ve treated my wine writing as a full-time second job, to go alongside the job that I already have that requires 50 + hours a week.

Balance isn’t something that I’ve ever been very good at—possessed of an unassuming mien, a Midwestern work ethic, and a mental make-up whereby I cast myself as the underdog means that I am continually trying to prove something to myself, often times at the expense of real, true priorities.

Even more challenging is the fact that my standards for myself have been raised even as I’ve honed my writing chops.  Instead of figuring out a system to find time shortcuts, the amount of time it takes for me to write has become more deliberate and expansive while my interest in writing has become more professional in nature – less blogging and more credible journalism requiring more work to exceed the bar that I’ve set for myself.

The net result of this, after full-time job plus wine writing, is the rest of my life has received scant attention for nearly seven years and I’ve created a nearly untenable situation for myself, a set of internal expectations that I can’t live up to, requiring a time commitment that I can’t manage.

However, most importantly, the expectations and time commitments that I have assigned to my wine writing isn’t fair to the other people in my life – notably, my incredibly supportive wife, Lindsay.  She has been a saint the past six years, my blogging encompassing nearly the entire duration of our 6.5 year marriage.  But, she is long overdue a husband that takes the trash out without prompting!

I’ll be around the Internets – commenting on wine blogs, doing the Twitter thing, staying connected on Facebook and I’ll probably start engaging more actively on CellarTracker and on the WineBerserkers message board, but I’m taking a hiatus from wine writing to recalibrate, shifting my time to the things that are the most important to me:  Family and career.

Jeff

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/good_grape_goes_on_hiatus/

Lisa Marie Lisa Snowdon Liz Phair Lokelani McMichael

The electricity of creativity

“I’m like a great big dark cloud, floating over the land, discharging my creativity in a sudden burst, like a lightning storm. If I were on twitter, facebook, etc. I feel I would waste the energy in lots of small bursts. I do not want to do that. You won’t find me on social networks. [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/N1R5bPrgFQw/

Mariah OBrien Marika Dominczyk Marisa Coughlan Marisa Miller

Social Connections are still about people not stats

Small world story; as I walked towards my local coffee and sandwich shop, St. Davids in Forest Hill, I got an email to say my Foursquare mayorship had been lost to another user. I didn’t know this lady, but I have to admit I felt slightly affronted than I should lose this title, despite it [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/6a0cnyMjPEM/

Lena Headey Leonor Varela Leslie Bega Leslie Bibb

Good Grape Goes on Hiatus

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” said a very wise John Lennon and that’s exactly what has happened with me.  My life has kept apace, even as I’ve made plans to be a respected wine writer.

By most standards, 2011 has been a very good year.  I was a three-time finalist in the Wine Blog Awards, earning notice in the Best Overall Wine Blog, Best Industry Blog and Best Writing categories.  I started contributing a wine column to Forbes.com.  This site was named the 2nd most influential blog (and most influential wine blog) out of 4,000 blogs in a 2011 Wine, Beer and Spirits study by eCairn, a software company specializing in community and influencer marketing.  I was a panelist at Vino2011 in New York City, I won a scholarship to the Wine Writer’s Symposium in Napa Valley, and I turned down enough worldwide wine trip offers to fill a two-month calendar.

Yet, wine writing has exacted a toll.  I approach anything I do with a zeal and fervor that ensures me the success that I want and I’ve treated my wine writing as a full-time second job, to go alongside the job that I already have that requires 50 + hours a week.

Balance isn’t something that I’ve ever been very good at—possessed of an unassuming mien, a Midwestern work ethic, and a mental make-up whereby I cast myself as the underdog means that I am continually trying to prove something to myself, often times at the expense of real, true priorities.

Even more challenging is the fact that my standards for myself have been raised even as I’ve honed my writing chops.  Instead of figuring out a system to find time shortcuts, the amount of time it takes for me to write has become more deliberate and expansive while my interest in writing has become more professional in nature – less blogging and more credible journalism requiring more work to exceed the bar that I’ve set for myself.

The net result of this, after full-time job plus wine writing, is the rest of my life has received scant attention for nearly seven years and I’ve created a nearly untenable situation for myself, a set of internal expectations that I can’t live up to, requiring a time commitment that I can’t manage.

However, most importantly, the expectations and time commitments that I have assigned to my wine writing isn’t fair to the other people in my life – notably, my incredibly supportive wife, Lindsay.  She has been a saint the past six years, my blogging encompassing nearly the entire duration of our 6.5 year marriage.  But, she is long overdue a husband that takes the trash out without prompting!

I’ll be around the Internets – commenting on wine blogs, doing the Twitter thing, staying connected on Facebook and I’ll probably start engaging more actively on CellarTracker and on the WineBerserkers message board, but I’m taking a hiatus from wine writing to recalibrate, shifting my time to the things that are the most important to me:  Family and career.

Jeff

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/good_grape_goes_on_hiatus/

Lily Allen Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Price Lisa Marie

Cos and Lamb

My good friend Marty Freitas has long carried a love of Bordeaux?s magic nectar, and on a blustery weekend in February, there really is no better time to crack a bottle or two, pop some lamb in the oven and enjoy the pleasures the two together can deliver. Marty had stood bottles of Cos d?Estournel [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/5XBygU1W29M/cos-and-lamb

Naomi Watts Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Portman Natalie Zea

The Current State of Alcohol Marketing: Case #43

MARKETING BOY #1: Dude, turn the fucking TV off, we have to get this new ad comped and up on Facebook. MARKETING BOY #2: I know, I know. Chill. (clicks remote)....Hey, pass me the bottle of Goose Juice. MARKETING BOY...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/QyCkboxZpOU/the-current-state-of-alcohol-marketing-case-43.html

Maria Bello Maria Menounos Maria Sharapova Mariah Carey

Wine labels done right, a discovery at VinCE

A couple weeks ago I found myself in Budapest for the VinCE wine event – An event that is more consumer focused than trade, but a place to discover new wines and meet new people. I have to admit that I rarely find myself discovering  a wine label, or bottle design, at such events that [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/5R-0iGsvEkk/

Kristy Swanson Kylie Bax Lacey Chabert Laetitia Casta

Social Connections are still about people not stats

Small world story; as I walked towards my local coffee and sandwich shop, St. Davids in Forest Hill, I got an email to say my Foursquare mayorship had been lost to another user. I didn’t know this lady, but I have to admit I felt slightly affronted than I should lose this title, despite it [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/6a0cnyMjPEM/

Sarah Polley Sarah Shahi Sarah Silverman Sarah Wynter

46-years old Glen Garioch 1958 priced at $2,600

An ancient and rare bottle from a limited stock of 336 bottles; it is a unique identity for a 46-year old vintage bottle of Glen Garioch 1958. Among those 336 bottles which were produced in 1958 from an excellent Highland distillery, only 60 of these single malt bottles were released in the UK. Created and [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vagablond/ysSN/~3/NPfDuq-kFn4/

Leelee Sobieski Leighton Meester Leila Arcieri Lena Headey

Bordeaux: the biggest joke in the wine world?

Something about the 2011 campaign told me that the Mea Culpas would come out this year – and I have a feeling I might be right. ‘We were arrogant,’ says Chateau Lafite MD Christophe Salin of last year’s wine pricing (and ‘timing’ – for which read ‘handling’). And I think we can expect more of [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/DxEIGs3ffr8/

Nicole Richie Nicole Scherzinger Nicollette Sheridan Nikki Cox