Let's get the awkward stuff out of the way first.
Yes, I am a Lutheran pastor who is starting a wine blog. Southern Baptists, beware...when it comes to communion with this guy, there is power in the blood (so to speak).
There are really all kinds of reasons why people might look askew at this. First, a pastor is writing about drinking wine. The horror - your clergy might actually drink. For anyone who has not realized that your friendly, neighborhood pastor probably likes the sauce (and probably drinks because of you)...let this blog tear that wall of illusion down for you. If this somehow bothers you, as you sip on your Chardonnay, then I don't know what to tell you other than that perhaps this blog isn't for you.
Beyond the shock of your pastor enjoying pleasures more associated with the worship of Dionysius (for no good reason, though - wine is central to Christianity throughout the scriptures and in worship thanks to communion), there is also the question of why anyone would start another blog about another niche hobby or interest. Like, say, wine. "Who's your audience?," you may well ask. Well...you're reading this, aren't you? Looks like we have at least one taker.
Other questions arise. Why wine? Aren't Lutherans all about the beer, except for bishops, who mostly seem to go for bourbon? There's some truth to those stereotypes, and I've certainly enjoyed plenty of beer, bourbon, and various and sundry other "potent potables"...and you never know, I might just write about them, too. But wine's somehow...different.
Maybe I'm writing about wine because wine used to intimidate the hell out of me. (Your pastor also probably swears. Deal with it). I don't think I'm alone in that, either - the world of wine can seem overwhelming. First of all, the sheer range of options is enough in and of itself to leave many a person staring in dumb shock at the average warehouse-style liquor store's wine selection. Aisle after aisle - France, Italy, Spain, California, Australia, Germany, and beyond. That's just geography...now add in grapes. Cabernet, merlot, chardonnay...and then the ones you *don't* know how to pronounce. What the hell is a Gruner Veltliner or a Xinomavro? Even if you aren't put off by the sheer scale of wine's basic varieties...how do I know if I'll like *this* bottle? How do you even start trying to decide?
My entry into the world of wine came mostly through a year spent in Uruguay. I grew up around wine, though this was mostly limited to my mom's humongo jugs of Carlo Rossi burgundy and my grandmother's boxed Franzia white grenache. I dabbled some in college, but usually stuck to beer or things stronger (and usually cheap...it was college). Then, I went to Uruguay. Uruguay, while an up-and-coming wine producer, is next door to a much more established wine country...Argentina. I vacationed in Argentine wine country (Mendoza, specifically) and fell in love with the signature Argentine wine, malbec. I came back to the US right as malbec was beginning to turn into a household word. For several years, I mostly stuck to the tried-and-true malbec world, usually only drinking wine if it was over dinner, and usually only departing from malbec if I was serving fish or white meat...in which case I usually went for pinot grigio (since I knew it was a white wine people liked), or the big name white wine of Argentina, torrontes.
I mostly stuck to malbec and torrontes until I met my wife, who is a riesling lover. I started dabbling in Spanish wines, discovering garnacha and verdejo due Rueda...and then I got a little obsessed with pairing food and wine. I'm going to blame the somewhat obnoxious sommelier-turned-chef (or was it the other way around?) on season 1 of Top Chef for this. The notion that matching up food and wine could be more than a set of basic, "red with this, white with that" rules nudged me to branch out.
It's only grown from there. The more wine I tried, the more in love I fell with what wine can be. It can be jammy, it can be citrusy, it can be apply or herby. It can be flinty and full of minerality, it can have notes of chocolate, or leather, or pipe smoke, and everything else. A glass of wine can tell you as much about the geology, geography, history, and food of the place it comes from as a thousand books on those subjects. Wine is a world, and a window into the world.
So, I've been boning up. Reading tons of books and articles. My Twitter feed positively drips with shiraz this and gewurztraminer that. Now, I want to write about it. I want YOU to try new things with me, geek out about how well Pinot Noir goes with roast pork, and let your tongue get tied in knots trying to say Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Fear not, little flock - that big, scary wine section need not be so big or scary!
In these entries, you'll find...
-Tasting notes as I try wine, along with a picture of each label (so you can track them down more easily)
-Ideas on food pairing, and maybe even some recipes
-The lowdown on where each wine is from and why that matters
-Whatever other random things I think sound like good ideas
So...drink up!
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