Preparing for my first Wine Blogging Wednesday post
After nearly a year and over 200 posts on my blog, I think I’m ready to review a few wines in earnest. And what better way to start than with Wine Blogging Wednesday #29?
WBW, as it is called, offers each wine blogger out there the chance to taste a wine that fits with the theme of the month, write up some tasting notes, and get noticed via the host wine blog. This month, Fork & Bottle is the host blog and the topic is biodynamic wines. The good people at Fork & Bottle also compiled an extremely helpful list of many biodynamic wineries. I made sure to add a few to their list, including Lachini.
Speaking of Lachini, I believe I will be reviewing the 2004 Lachini Ana Vineyard Pinot Noir as my entry into WBW #29. Their wines are produced within the Low Impact Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) guidelines drawn up to ensure sustainability within the Oregon wine industry. More details about the LIVE program can be found here. The official Web site for LIVE is here.
When you become a LIVE-certified winery, you also become certified as a Salmon Safe winery. Lachini is, therefore, safe for salmon and less reliant on synthetic chemicals and pesticides than most other commercial vineyards. So while the concept of “biodynamic” wine is a little vague with regard to specifics about how to be biodynamic, the real idea is to establish more sustainable agricultural practices and realize that there is more to producing great wine than growing the largest quantity of grapes. Many boutique wineries practice biodynamism as a matter of course, I think, so I assume it’s really the larger wineries out there that should look at following more sustainable viticultural practices as they pump out thousands of cases of Merlot every year.
Anyway, I have until January 17th to taste and review the 2004 Lachini Ana Vineyard Pinot Noir, a wine that I purchased recently at Whole Foods and that I have wanted to try for over a month now. WBW #29 seems like an excellent excuse to pull out this 100% Pommard juggernaut and see whether it tastes as good as the 2005 I tried right around Thanksgiving. I’m also still looking into wine preservation systems; expect a post on that topic soon!
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Are you moving forward in a career sort of path, or just a strong hobby?
I really enjoy your reviews on wine, food and life - so much more than the regular boring recaps from current writers.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hey, thank you very much! I really appreciate the encouragement; although I began this blog for myself, I have grown to enjoy hearing other burgeoning wine writers talk about their own experiences. I have also been writing for quite some time, so I’ve honed my craft a bit in other areas before trying to write about wine…which can be a complete adjectival nightmare if done poorly. *)
As a career path, wine is very compelling. I have no idea where to start, or what to do exactly. All I know is I love writing about wine, trying different wines on someone else’s dime, and helping people choose good wines that I am excited about. Sounds like a critic to me….