That indeed is the question. When I first decided to put this site together, my vision was to make a place that was interesting and accessible to anyone wanting to learn more about wine. In the spirit of disclosure, I have to admit I am a Bordeaux collector and aficionado so certainly that is part of my agenda, but only because I believe that the region offers us the finest wine in the world. And especially because French wines have had stigmas attached to them in years past, I don’t want anyone to think for a second that wine is stuffy, boring, only for old creepy guys, difficult to learn, snobby, only for old creepy guys, too formal, only for rich people that own Bentleys, only for nerdy creepy guys, or something that just is too demanding. Or only for old creepy guys.

On the website (www.classof1855.com) I put together informational pages that are hopefully presented in digestible portions – not too much, but just enough information to make it useful. Ultimately though, you are the judge and jury (even the executioner) on any subject that appears on the 1855 site or this blog. The toughest thing is that I can’t help you digest information or help you learn new things about the vast subject of wine without your feedback (read: I really want to hear from you).

Thus when I rolled out the website to a few select friends for feedback, what I heard was nearly unanimous: “you need a blog – make it more interactive – make it easy to access and for people to leave comments”. Okay, I’m with you if that’s what you think. There was only one person that offered a dissenting opinion, which was my younger brother Philip who has always tried to sabotage everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Actually that is a bald lie and I know he’s laughing reading this, which is why I wrote it.

Philip is ever brilliant, always supportive, very dialed in, the CIO of a substantial financial services software company (he’ll either be getting a huge raise because of the bailout or looking for work soon), an over-achiever in every sense of the word, and a guy you’d like to be (even if you’re a woman, you’d have to at least consider it). What Philip said to me was essentially this: “blogs are falling by the wayside and have a dim future”. Very soon the only people writing blogs will be professional journalists, he explained, and if Philip foresees this prophecy I believe it to be true – he once predicted bottled water would become a great commodity and I laughed at him. How much time do I have as a blogger doc? This, of course, is the unknown.

There are lots of reasons to believe Philip’s statement that blogs will disappear soon and I even have many of my own. Okay one really. I have gone to many, many, many wine blogs. Part of it is to see if I can learn something I didn’t know, and part of my visit is covert; I want to see what everyone else is up to and how these blogs look and navigate, what subjects are being discussed, how active, or rather how ‘interactive’ the blog is, and so on (I abhor the use of etc.).  And here is my conclusion.

I am bored, falling asleep, or want to go have a cigarette (I don’t smoke) reading these vapid, droning pieces of worthless to me, opinions. And this is why I resisted blogging. I do not want any of you dear people to read this blog and yawn (“yeah, so what?” or “yeah, who made you god?”). I would rather you become invigorated to participate and help me with this endeavor of enlightening people about wine, or at least walk away with some greater knowledge about wine than you had when you first arrived. I don’t want to let you lapse into a somniferous state while reading this blog!

And when it comes to wine blogs, honestly, I cannot take another non-professional or semi-professional opinion about wine, especially those under the delusion that their own wine ratings really mean anything to anyone; this, from people that think of themselves as some sort of savant wine critic! People that write wine blogs are probably fine as people. People that are ‘wannbe wine critics’ are not and I’d love to put these bloggers next to Jancis Robinson or James Suckling for an evening and watch them try to weasel through the situation. They just do not have the knowledge, insight, or experience to hold up to the likes of the John Kapons (Mr. Kapon is not a wine critic but very well-respected for his knowledge and experience with very fine wines, being President of one of the most successful fine wine auction houses in the US) or the Robert Parkers of the world. The fact is that there are many people that want to be and pretend to be wine critics but they are not, nor do they have the stuffing to be, and these types of people are not deserving of your attention or mine. But blogging has made this all possible (and of course like any axiom, there are always exceptions to the rule).

So here’s the deal I want to make with you: if I ever get to the point of acting like a wine critic, but I don’t happen to be on the payroll of some credible wine publication as a wine critic, beat me up (verbally first, okay?) and put me in my place. Other friends of mine who push me to always do better are also deserving of praise and recognition of their wisdom. I hope to be able to publicly acknowledge them before I go wherever I will go. As I said though, you have the power because my deepest wish is that everyone could experience wine the way I do. It is truly incredible what a simple vine can do to produce fruit that ends up in my glass and I want to share that with you!