At this point, I think we can agree that Sonoma winemaker Ross Cobb now owes me some money.

Certainly I’ve reviewed and featured a few of his wines here, with quite favorable results – though that’s not, of course, why I think he should be paying me (really, we’ve had enough of that alleged behavior lately, haven’t we?).

No, I think he owes me money because I might have helped seal the deal on his latest gig. Finder’s fee? C’mon, a little slice off the top of that is kind of standard business practice, right?!??

[ Editor's note: I do not actually think that this guy owes me money. ]

In all seriousness, I’ve been covering the recent trajectory of both Ross’ wines and those of his latest consulting client, Sonoma’s Claypool Cellars – so I’m happy to report that the two are now working together.

During my recent jaunt to Sonoma, I spent a few hours with Chaney Smith Claypool, wife of rocker Les Claypool and the driving force behind their up-and-coming wine venture. The Claypool Cellars wines are quite solid, and very good (in the case of their 2009 Hurst Vineyard “Purple Pachyderm” Pinot, very, very good), and what’s in barrel for their Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is already tasty and sporting a ton of exciting spicy, bright-fruited potential.

Despite the laid-back, bohemian carnival atmosphere of their brand, they make serious juice – and Chaney is serious about taking Claypool Cellars to the next level. One thing she told me stuck with me several days later: “I want a legacy that we can give to the kids… if they’ll take it!” This is coming from someone who’s tasting room is a caboose train car, by the way…

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“…and even if he’s a lazy man, and the Dude was certainly that – quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County… which would place him high in the runnin’ for laziest worldwide…”

The Stranger, from The Big Lebowski

Yes, this is a lazy post. But while it certainly qualifies for being labeled as lazy, some interesting insights can be gleaned from it so I’d challenge those who’d also try it qualify it as lacking any value. Note that I didn’t say it delivers a lot of value, just that it doesn’t lack for any value. Aw, f*ck, why am I doing this to myself again? Just deal with it, I need a break after putting together the last top ten list (which was a butt-load of work).

What am I blathering about? I’ll tell you what I’m blathering about, man! I’m gonna give you another annual top ten list – this time, it’s the top ten most popular 1WD articles of the year.

In the 2010 incarnation of this list, I mused that a) 1WD readers love wine topic controversy, and b) I would no longer be able to use the 2010 method of determining the most popular articles (counting comments) again. And both pieces of dime-store philosophizing insight proved to be true in 2011. Controversy in the wine world was, once again, no stranger to these virtual pages, and it got your collective wine geek blood pumping – particularly when it came to the uber-geeky topics of wine yeasts, how wine critics rate (or don’t rate!) the wines that they taste, and the always-religious-level-debate-inducing debate around Biodynamics.

In terms of measuring engagement, the days of folks dropping in with a quick comment to say “nice job” are now far behind us; those thumbs up are now given as re-tweets and/or Facebook “Likes” (which I think we should also be doing for wines themselves, but that’s another story entirely…). So instead of counting comments as in previous years, I opted to have PostRank.com report back what it thought were the most engaging 1WD articles of the year, since their calculation appears to take into account comments and social media reach through sharing on platforms such as twitter. It’s NOT perfect, as it misses key metrics such as video views (which surely would have put my video interviews with rocker Les Claypool and social media maven Gary Vaynerchuk at the top of the list), and because of a three-way tie at the #9 spot, there are actually 12 posts listed and not 10; but it’s got more positives than negatives so let’s go with it.

I’ve excluded giveaways requiring comments for reasons that should be obvious (if they’re not, just keep drinking!). And as in previous years, the list doesn’t really include the articles I consider my personal faves from 2011 – but the list isn’t about me, it’s about you. And for those just recently tuning into 1WD, this is as good a way as any to catch up on the content that stirred the most discussion during the past twelve months.

And so… here they are…!

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Looks like I’m far from the only one with a penchant for interviewing rock stars about their vinous habits: the Winter 2011 issue of Guitar Aficionado has been dubbed “The Wine Issue” with interviews with wine-making and wine-collecting rockers – and it prominently features a (pretty cool) guitar-shaped decanter on the cover (see inset pic).

According to the GA website:

“In Guitar Aficionado’s Winter 2011 issue, we bring you the rockers, vintners, and oenophiles that celebrate the grape. Rush’s esteemed guitar and bass duo, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, discuss their decades-long love affair with the world’s finest wines; the Police’s Andy Summers talks wine and guitars; celebrated vintner and guitarist Paul Gargiulo says there’s a little music in every bottle that leaves his idyllic estate; and Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and Daytona drive’s Scott Pruett tell tales of their winemaking ventures.

The issue also features articles on the wine tourism opportunities in Chile, as well as wine-and-music pairings by celebrity restaurateur / vintner Joe Bastianich (whose line-up of wines are generally pretty darn good, by the way).

Might just have to go get myself a copy of that, even if it does celebrate an instrument with at least one too many strings on it…

By the way, if you’re looking for rock star wine-related interviews, we got some right here:

• Maynard James Keenan (of TOOL, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer)
• Geoff Tate (of Queensryche)
• Les Claypool (of Primus and Fearless Flying Frog Brigade; a written interview and also a backstage vid)
• Grammy-winning soulful crooner Boz Scaggs

Cheers!

The irrepressible Tom Johnson reported recently  on Louisville Juice that according to the CDC drunk driving in the U.S. continues its steep decline – to the tune of a 30% drop in self-reported annual drinking and driving episodes since 2006.

Tom goes on to say that “fatalities related to drinking and driving have dropped nearly 70% since 1982, from 26,000 to 11,000.”

Your first reaction to all of that good news (and it is very good news – because also according to the CDC, “car crashes are the leading cause of death for everyone ages 5-34 and that 1 in 3 crash deaths involves a drunk driver” – so any drop in drunk driving equates to a potentially significant reduction in preventable fatalities), like mine, was probably “holy crap, that’s awesome!”

But… it’s not quite time just yet to pop the bubbly in celebration (assuming of course that you’ve got a designated driver if not popping those corks in the safety of your own home!). As someone who often has to drive myself to and from functions where alcohol is involved (in the function, that is, not in the driving!), I’m the kind of guy who often pays particular attention to trying to do whatever I can to prevent tragic alcohol-related disasters. Rule the first at wine events: SPIT (and gently admonish organizers if they don’t provide spit cups or buckets)!

And while we’ve come a long way, baby, in terms of one of those tragic disasters (drunk driving), we’ve also got a long way to go, baby…

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