The Long and Winding Pinot Road, Part XIII

As the years and weekly issues rolled by, I was infusing the PinotFile with a purpose. I chose to circumvent the many wine publications of the time which centered primarily around lengthy lists of tasting notes and scores. My intent was to find and report the compelling stories behind every good bottle of Pinot Noir. Because of the serious commitment in time, effort, and money that Pinot Noir producers put into the bottle, I avoided writing derogatory reviews of Pinot Noirs that were not appealing to me. I strove to give a truthful judgment and only feature and recommend Pinot Noirs that I deemed worthy of reader interest. That said, I have always emphasized that we all have different palates with no one person tasting the same, so the recommended wines were meant to be only a starting point for the reader’s own exploration of Pinot Noir.

I have received a continuous stream of testimonials from grateful readers who seem happy with my unpretentious and humorous approach to reviewing wine, and I am truly appreciative of each and every one. W.S. Merwin wrote, “I asked how can you ever be sure that what you write is really any good at all… … If you have to be sure don’t write.” The feedback I have received has spurred me on and given me some surety. I particularly enjoyed one bit of feedback I received: “If I drank over 1,300 wines during the year, my wife would accuse me of having a drinking problem. You do it, call it research, brag about it, and gain respect among your friends. Way to go!”

The PinotFile currently has readers from all over the globe including Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and many other countries as well. I have now published 318 issues of the PinotFile including this issue. It has been a joyous cold soak, but its time to pull the cork on a new venture. To be continued… … … ..