Steve Paulo – Notes From The Cellar

As the three people who read my blog already know, I was a finalist for best new wine blog. Even though I did not win(the better blog did: Swirl, Smell, Slurp), the experience exposed me to some new and in some cases impressive people.

Steve Paulo is such a person. Steve writes Notes From The Cellar amongst other blogs. He has a cool white guy beard, was jumped into the Bloods and the Crips on the same day, and invented Twizzlers. With his awesome white guy beard and can recite verse for verse almost half of the Full House episodes he has ever watched.

Because he is a nice guy, because he is a solid writer and handy with wine descriptors, because he was also a finalist for best new wine blog, and because I just like him, Steve is ALP’s featured wine blogger this week. … Continue Reading

No Blog Is An Island – An Alliance of Five

“I think that a young state, like a young virgin, should modestly stay at home, and wait the application of suitors for an alliance with her; and not run about offering her amity to all the world; and hazarding their refusal. Our virgin is a jolly one; and tho at present not very rich, will in time be a great fortune, and where she has a favorable predisposition, it seems to me well worth cultivating.” Benjamin Franklin

At the founding of A Long Pour there was a philosophy, to work in support of those who support wine. Call my work puff pieces (HoseMaster), but I love the people I have met and I love writing about them. However, I have only the undeveloped voice of a mere virgin and there is so much to say about the topic at hand. I wanted to build partnerships with other bloggers to strengthen A Long Pour’s voice from a lone murmur to a beautiful chorus and I was eager to offer myself, like the foolish virgin offering her amity to the blogging world. After suffering refusals, I had an awakening, a sea change in thought. … Continue Reading

Wine Blogger Doesn’t Read Own Wine Blog

I have recently received some good advice, that I should start being more like myself and less like Alder Yarrow. I have been told I am a funny guy and should show that more. These are inaccurate assumptions. While I may be a Mini-Yarrow, I assure you I am in no way a funny person. The comments did get me thinking though about what I dislike in most wine blogs.

For a long time I have felt wine bloggers as a whole, are an irrelevant bitter group of individuals filled with incredible ego and little talent, who are out to make names for themselves while gobbling up free samples, demanding special attention, and possibly running illegal dog fights on the side. Plus, most can’t no write good (guilty here too, look how long that first sentence be). … Continue Reading

2010 Wine Blog Awards – Hey, What Do You Know!

I am very happy and humbled to announce that I am a finalist for “Best New Wine Blog” in the 2010 Wine Blog Awards. As cliché as it sounds, I am just happy to be a finalist. Everyone I have worked with over the past half year has been amazing and I really owe this to their amazing stories.

There are some great blogs nominated, and some that in my opinion are just trying to be another critic, but that’s OK too. I recommend the following…. … Continue Reading

Stan Hieronymus – Appellation Beer

When I started A Long Pour, one of my goals was to help bridge gaps in the wine world. Help young beer drinkers see that wine can be just as fun and approachable as beer, and to get snobby wine drinkers to give beer it’s equal place. All of this is arrogant thinking, but that’s OK, I am arrogant. So although I have had little time to do any of that, I really like beer so I wanted to do something with it. One of the blogs that inspired my site was a beer blog called “Appellation Beer”, written by Stan Hieronymus. Stan is in search of “the soul of beer”, in a similar way I am in search of the soul of wine. Stan understands that wine isn’t the only beverage that can claim complexity. In fact, his “about” page states:

Does it matter where beer is brewed?

Yes. At least that’s one of the premises behind Appellation Beer. Some of the others:

– It matters what the ingredients are and where they come from.

– Wines and cheeses aren’t the only products that can claim terroir.

– Beer should be considered in context. That context might be the food it’s served with. That context might be where the beer is enjoyed and the company it is shared with.

Hope that all doesn’t sound pretentious, because another goal of this site is to remain true to a wonderful statement from Anchor Brewing savior Fritz Maytag:

“It’s very hard to get pretentious about beer. You can become knowledgeable and start to talk with a highfalutin’ vocabulary. But you can only go so far with beer, and I’ve always liked that.” … Continue Reading

Alder Yarrow – Vinography

Few individuals have done more for wine blogging or are better respected in the medium than Alder Yarrow. When I do discuss blogs with winemakers and the few they have time to read, Alder’s blog Vinography is usually at the top of that list.

Vinography has been featured in dozens of publications for its excellence in wine writing and has won numerous awards in recognition of its dedication to wine and wine blogging. It is with great honor that I publish the following interview with Alder, which he wrote while on a tasting trip in Australia. … Continue Reading

Joe Roberts – 1WineDude

Recently Steve Heimoff wrote a piece on his blog called, “Wine Blogs: An Endangered Species?” In his critique of wine blogs, good and bad, he encouraged supporting fellow wine bloggers through interlinking, or citing other bloggers work. In fact, he cited his own need to reach out in this way for the benefit of the community as a whole. If the wine blogging culture is to thrive, there should be more support amongst the individual bloggers. Steve is passionate about wine writing and wants to leave it in good hands, whenever he moves on down the road. “I want to hand it off, to whoever it may be, to people who believe in wine passionately, sincerely, with every ounce of their being. To people who are willing to live wine 24/7 — not just blog about the free sample somebody sent them yesterday,” he said.

When I started A Long Pour, the goal was not to promote my own ego or opinions, which I have too much of both. I remain a young wine drinker, new in my experience. Frankly, I don’t care to be a critic. I want to have fun learning about wine and promoting the people who live it everyday. I want to build a community, a place for winemakers and enthusiasts alike to learn about their colleagues and the people who craft the wines we love. I also want to provide an outlet for other talent, photographers, graphic artists, and bloggers. … Continue Reading