My Twenty-Ten resolutions

Tradition dictates that every 365 days you should try to kick bad habits and start your life anew, so here’s my list (not in any particular order) of New Year’s Resolutions for 2010:

To stop using, when describing winemakers, words like “passion” or “passionate.” This came to mind while reading a January 1 Financial Times column by wine writer Jancis Robinson. One of her hopes for 2010, she said, was to “see a tax on the use of the word “passion” when applied to wine producers.” I, like many, have been guilty of throwing around this term to describe what might more accurately have been described as “dedicated” or “talented” or simply “honest” winemaking. If I forget, and let the “p” word sneak into a story, please send me a comment or message to remind me of this promise.

To spend more time with family and friends. This one originated from a comment made by my 11-year-old son when we were driving across the south of France to take the boat from Marseilles to Corsica. Well, when you cross that part of France, what do you see? For those who haven’t done this drive, the answer is vineyards. Lots and lots of vineyards, as the Languedoc is the largest producer of wine in the world (at least I think it is).

This would be a lot better, dad, if I had an iPod."

I was going on and on, as I’m apt to do, about wine, vines, vineyards, etc. My son turned to his two other brothers, and said: “He’s fixated about vines, you know.” And I had to agree with him, so I shut up about vineyards for a while. But then, I took him to harvest grapes last September at a friend’s vineyard, and—you know what—he talked a good bit going there and back about—about the new iPod that he wants. OK, so it will take some more time for him to appreciate his Dad’s idiosyncrasies.

To visit and write about winemakers outside of the South of France. In particular, I’d like to explore the Rhône Valley to learn more about Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône wines, as well as visit the Loire Valley. Every year, at the Toulouse wine fair, I buy wine from a couple from that lovely region. He works for Charles Joquet of Chinon fame; she works for Didier and Catherine Champalou in Vouvray. The wines are as marvelous as this young couple is delightful and enthusiastic about their wines. They have traveled together to make wine in Australia, South Africa and the U.S.A., and they have that open-minded perspective that only travel can unleash. So I must get myself to the Loire Valley this year. I know, from the time when we lived in Paris and often visited some friends who lived there, that the finest rillettes in France come from there—from Tours, I believe. And I love good rillettes almost as much as foie gras.

Sample Wine Travel Guide.

When I do plan a trip to these wine regions, I’ll be sure to use a wonderful website that allows you to organize your own personalized wine tour: WineTravelGuides.com. This site has excellent information about the local wines and winemakers, along with hotel and restaurant recommendations, for almost every wine region in France, and a good part of Spain and Italy. I’m not getting any commission for mentioning it here, but I feel obligated to say that I’m working on two wine tourism guides for Wink Lorch, the owner of WineTravelGuides.com, about Northern and Southern Corsica. I do recommend that you consider using this site for better understanding and exploring wine regions in the three countries that it covers. The content is free for browsing; you only pay a small charge if you download any of the guides as a PDF.

To visit and write more about winemakers closer to Toulouse. Much of my travels and writing over the year just past has been focused on the Languedoc-Roussillon region, which is south of us. It’s a region, as you probably know, that is fascinating and filled with good-price-to-quality wines. But, I’ve been reading Paul Strang’s excellent book, South-West France: The Wines and Winemakers, which was a Christmas present to myself (in case anyone’s curious–No, I didn’t get those Armagnac snifters that I wrote about back before Christmas. The big bearded guy is slipping…). And I now realize that wine areas much closer to where I live are equally fascinating. Strang, who has lived in Southwestern France for many years, is a leading expert on the wines from that area. His book depicts an astonishing array of grape varieties and regions (Estaing, Marcillac, Entraygues, etc.) that I’ve never even heard of. You’ll benefit from this discovery of mine, as one of my resolutions for this year is to better explore these close-by wine areas.

To try to make some money this year at blogging. Somewhat rhetorically, because she knows as well as the next person that people don’t want to pay money to view Internet content, my wife keeps saying that “This blog thing is nice, sweetheart, but when is it going to make some money?” I chalk the first year up to experience, to learning about blogging and the wines and winemakers who I wanted to write about, and to developing a reader base. I’m not so delusional to think that I can develop a subscriber model for The Vine Route—only a few wine writers, like Jancis Robinson or Robert Parker have the expertise, knowledge and reputation to charge for access to their sites, but I’ve been dabbling with Google Adsense ads on the site (don’t click indiscriminately on the ads, but it would help if some of you would try them occasionally , and I’ve had Amazon links to Recommended Books (whose purchase would result in a small commission for yours truly) for some time, but no one seems to ever use these links.

Next up, I’ll be seeking some relevant sponsors that could promote their services or products through display ads on my site. My objective is to also write some print articles about French wine and culinary specialties, and I am firmly committed, as mentioned previously, to preparing some electronic guides/books that people, who want more detailed information about a wine or winemaker, can download. Maybe making this a more financially interesting endeavor would help to make my final resolution more a possibility.

To purchase some vines or an old vineyard within two hours of Toulouse. This is undoubtedly the most difficult of my resolutions to keep. I know that many wine enthusiasts share this dream, and I also know—because I’ve met some—that there are people who have made this dream a reality. They say that the best way to hold to your resolutions is to write them down, so maybe this will prove to be the case in this instance.

Anyway, I’ll still enjoy writing about the wine and winemakers, and exploring further the Vine Route. I hope that you will continue to enjoy reading about it.