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| William Pollard Jr - writes for the Wild 4 Washington Wine blog. |
In 2006, after much reflection, I decided to start blogging about wine. My decision was predicated on the experiences I had gleaned from my first year of working at Barnard Griffin winery. While I no longer work for a winery, I have made many friends within the Washington wine industry.
What’s changed in the last five years?
My position on screw caps has changed; I now like screw caps and find it satisfying to crack open a bottle with a screw cap. It’s so easy to open and gain access to the wine in the bottle. And most importantly, I know the wine will taste as intended. Every time I pull a real cork out of a bottle, I worry about the wine being corked. It may not happen often, but it happens often enough that I worry that cork is going to ruin my bottle of wine. It happened last night, the bottle was corked. My nose is just too demanding.
Last year I dropped the .blogspot.com domain and became, www.wild4washingtonwine.com.
I write more often about wine. I write more often about wine than I did five, four or even three years ago. And I believe the quality of my writing has improved. While I may not always compose gracefully, I am better at expressing myself.
Another change: last year I began paying more attention to wines not from Washington State.
It may seem odd for someone who lives in Washington and who wants to showcase Washington wines, to drink and write about non-Washington wines. However, I’ve realized that I must expand my palate and increase my exposure to wine, all kinds of wine, while keeping Washington wine as my baseline reference. This exposure is necessary for me to better engage with my audience and my friends in the wine industry. My change in perspective began when I became involved with the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC10).
Reno Walsh and Alan Wright of Zephyr Adventures, who are in charge of the Wine Bloggers Conferences, invited me to assist them at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington. WBC10 was a milestone for me. It was one of my most amazing weekends of wine. I met wine bloggers, winemakers and distributors from around the world. People very much like myself. And I had the opportunity to talk, share and taste many wines not from Washington. WBC10 was inspirational for me and as a result, I write more and take my writing more seriously.
This year WBC11 was held in Charlottesville, Virginia. Not only did I have the pleasure of learning about Virginia wines and tasting more wine from around the world, but I made many new friends. Wine blogging and social media have connected me to hundreds of like minded souls. There is a vibrant community of winemakers, distributors, restaurateurs, writers and individuals passionate about wine. I consider myself lucky to consider some of them friends. Props later.
So thank you all for encouraging me to keep plugging away. As always, I will strive to stay positive and to share with you my wine experiences and recommendations. I look forward to more years of blogging about wine.
William Pollard Jr.
I remain wild 4 Washington wine, cheers!