Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The Nitty Gritty
There are a ton of great wine blogs out there. Food blogs as well. To see some, check out the blog roll (to the right --> ...okay, down and to the right).
I imagine some of the best come from folks in the industries. Being surrounded by great wines all the time perhaps lends itself to constant subject matter. Furthermore, some who are not in the industry (avid collectors, for example) are knocking back great bottle after great bottle every night. Such actions put to paper (or blog) oft leave us dreamers in a lusty trance; pining for the gems afforded to those who have rightfully earned them.
Others make a blog "living" off of the spoils of the workplace. Business trips to New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, and the like lend themselves to bountiful, wine-soaked meals at the finest restaurants in the land...all a painless luxury on the corporate card.
I'm not envious. I've been able to get a little piece of all of this. Even been able to weasel my way into some "wine-trade-only" events, one of the rare perks of being a "wine blogger of some notoriety". Okay "slight notoriety". Okay, I bribed someone. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?
However, much of the day-to-day is far from sexy, probably for most of us. Industrial parks, one-horse towns reminiscent of the Kevin Bacon/Michael Gross opus Tremors, and places- so devoid of good food and drink that the meal planning process comes down to deciding whether the Hess station or the Shell station has the freshest pack of "Ho-Ho's"- are the norm, rather than the exception, in my line of work.
Tonight, the legitimate restaurant where my business associate and I ate had 5 wines on the list, and four were from Sutter Home. Listen, I'm not being a snob, but the opportunity cost of reading a blog post about a Sutter Home wine is probably more expensive than running down to the local truck stop and buying one yourself.
I guess I need to get to a point here. Writing on this blog, whether folks read or not, is an outlet, and it is especially rewarding when I do get some comments or encouragement from the great folks I've always known or met over the past year. While we want to write about legendary wines and incredibly sumptuous foods all the time, "real life" makes it difficult- nay, impossible- to do so...simply not enough exposure to "livin' high-on-the-hog" for regular content. However, rather than bemoan this inconvenience, I hope it makes us take a step back and realize how truly fortunate we are if we're able to partake in any of it. Most in the world aren't, so being thankful is so critical, even more so in today's economic climate...
...and especially when sucking down white zin in a podunk town.
To the fortunate times, and the other times that make them seem so much more: Cheers, Sláinte, L'Chaim, Salud, Prost, Skål, Konbe, Kampai, and Laissez les bon temps rouler!
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