Wow.

To say that I was impressed by the energy, turn out, and quality of the Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 participant posts would be an understatement.

Sort of like saying that the Grand Canyon is a minor geological anomaly. That kind of understatement.

To be perfectly honest, I was dreading (somewhat) having to carve out the time to read each entry for the event. That dread quickly turned into anticipation as my perceived labor became a labor of love.

And that is entirely due to the high quality of your posts – for those who participated, I can’t thank you enough.

Once again, Wine Blogging Wednesday drew participants from varied backgrounds, different areas of wine-world involvement, multiple countries, and represented nearly the entire spectrum of wine expertise…

For those who didn’t participate, below you are links to some great reads on a wine category that gets precious little attention these days – fortified wines – but whose expression can be just as sublime and enchanting as any of the typical, more attention-grabbing styles (for an excellent primer on some of this, check out K2’s Madeira overview at the Wine Blog).

If you’re still skeptical as to the power, finesse, and quality of baked / madeirized / oxidized / fortified wines, witness these two posts from two venerable and long-standing wine bloggers:

• Tim at Winecast.net tells us about the highest scoring wine he’s yet tried.
• Dr Debs from Good Wine Under $20 tasted the best wine she has ever tried.

If that doesn’t convince you, then you’re probably not paying attention.

Following are links to the other fine articles from the event’s participants, roughly in the order I received them.

Some revisited old faves, others tried something new, and many, many of them were pleasantly surprised by what sweet and fortified wines had to offer. If you’re thinking of taking a plunge into the world of kick-ass fortified wines, you’d do well to read these posts as they offer a great summary of what’s available to you on the market.

If you participated in WBW #51 and I didn’t link to you below, please accept my apology in advance and leave me a comment here so I can rectify the situation!

• A Good Time With Wine
• StrumErika.com
• GeneveltnSteeleSwallows
• 2 Days Per Bottle
• Catavino.net
• Wannabe Wino
• Smells Like Grape
• Anything Wine
• Under the Grape Tree
• Wine Peeps
• Pour Favor
• Bloviatrix (Go STEELERS! Sorry, couldn’t resist…)
• ChronicNegress.net
• Eating Leeds
• CheapWineRatings.com
• LENNDEVOURS
• The Wine Case
• Oenophilia (who coined the the term “Area 51 WBW”… man, why didn’t I think of that…)
• Brix Chicks
• Wine Connections
• oh, yeah, and 1WineDude.com, too (as for my penchant for Marvel Comics Super Hero references… honestly, at this point, what did you expect from my blog??…)

In case any further proof is needed that WBW #51, in the words of Gary Vaynerchuk, “totally CRUSHED it,” and also stomped it, killed it, and ripped off it’s head to feast upon its supple eye jelly (sorry Gary, couldn’t resist that one either), check out the way-cool WBW #51 mention on Wine Biz Radio – you can listen to the raw TalkShoe recording below, or download the entire show.

————————————

————————————

Cheers!
(images: 1WineDude.com gpb.org)