Welcome to 2019, folks; it used to be that I would insert a joke at this point about the dates on all of your checks being incorrect for the next week or so, but if you are still handwriting checks in 2019, then I have a cordless phone set to sell to you.

To help me recover from the festivities of the end-of-year holiday season (read: sober up), I decided to take a look back at the analytics for this humble piece of Global Interweb land and revisit the past year, in terms of what 1WD articles were deemed most popular. Popularity, in this context, is measured in sheer volume of visits (and listed in descending order, from the 10th most popular post to the first).

As many of you have noted to me both publicly and in private, 2018 was an excellent twelve months for me personally (politically, though, not so much). The important factors: my family is strong, my kiddo is doing very well, and my love life hit a high note that I only thought possible within the confines of really corny romance fiction. If you decide to waste any precious moments of your life (again) reading any of the articles linked below, please raise a glass with me while doing so, and we can toast to the genuine (on my part, anyway) wish that 2019 delivers more of the same good fortune to us all.

So, if you have glass in hand, let’s begin…

As 2016 draws to a close (and by the looks of it, most of us won’t be sad to see its hiney shuffling out of the doorway), it’s time for the annual tradition of looking back on the 1WD articles that got the most play during the year.

Yeah, I know it’s kind of a lazy cop-out; hey, man, go easy, my 2016 was just as crappy as yours, ok? For example, technically I am still not 100% divorced (though it’s definitely not for a lack of trying on my part!).

On the plus side, I’m still doing what I love, my daughter is still amazing, and my “work” travels have seen me hit Chile, Madeira, California, Washington, Italy, Texas, NYC, and most of those more than once. Overall, shiz is still pretty excellent in 1WD land.

Anyway, here are the top 10 most popular 1WD articles of 2016, as measured by the Google Analytics Gods…

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Holy shnikies!

We have arrived at the ninth (!) annual recap of the most interesting wines of the year. I feel old. Really, really, f*cking old.

Anyway, while I am coming to grips with the fact that there have been nine (!) incarnations of this list, you can check out the previous entries for 2015, 2014, 2013 (parts 1 & 2), 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 & 2008.

“What the sh*t?!??” It’ll make sense in a few minutes…

I have written about the process behind the garnering of this list nine (!) times, but it’s worth repeating for those of you who might be knew to this particular little game of mine:

These are not the “best” or “highest rated” wines, they are the wines I tasted which most stuck with me during the entire year, those that I felt offered the most geeky, thought-provoking experiences. Please note, these are not necessarily wines released during the year, they are releases that I tasted during the year. Also, I once again attempted to select only wines that you’d have at least some modicum of hope of obtaining. The final ranking is my own, and is totally subjective.

Once again, we have a tie. Actually, we have two ties, so the list is really a top 12 rather than a top 10. Once again, the list has some very expensive wines on it. Having said that, there are several bargains that made the MIW list this year, specifically because I found their QPR to be incredible.

In the words of Bugs Bunny: “Okay, Smokey, roll ’em!”…

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Here we go again! It’s time for the 2015 edition of the Most Interesting Wines of the Year. Yeah, it’s late, but given that this list is an indulgent exercise in subjective arbitrariness (or is that arbitrary subjectivity?), who cares?

A few teasers: the 2015 MIW list includes four dessert wines, is heavily dominated by Old World beauties, is technically a list of 11 wines instead of 10 (because we had a tie), and has an average bottle price at a whopping $157 (sorry)!

It’s a bit difficult for me to fully come to terms with this, but 2015 marks the eighth incarnation of this annual round-up. If you want to check out the MIW history, see the versions from 2014, 2013 (parts 1 & 2), 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 & 2008.

Since not a damned thing about how this list is inspired has changed since 2014, I quote last year’s preamble/background on how the wines were selected:

“These are not the “best” or “highest rated” wines, they are the wines I tasted which most stuck with me during the entire year, those that I felt offered the most geeky, thought-provoking experiences. Please note, these are not necessarily wines released during the year, they are releases that I tasted during the year. Also, I once again attempted to select only wines that you’d have at least some modicum of hope of obtaining.” I’ll only add that the final ranking is my own, and is totally subjective.

So, in the immortal words of Joseph II of Austria, “there it is.” Let’s get to it!…

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