It’s almost 2010, and you know what that means.

It means we need to get in at least one cheesy end-of-year-summary post!

What I decided to do was to completely forgo my personal favorite 1WineDude.com articles of the past year, and instead present the articles form 2009 that garnered the most reaction by YOU, the readers, since you’re what makes the 1WineDude.com wheel go ‘round.  The logical way was to pull together the most-commented posts from 2009, which I present below for your recap-ing pleasure.

As for the most-viewed posts, I figured I didn’t have a great way to measure that for the full year, having moved over to a new blogging platform and a new analytics platform in 2009. And more importantly, I didn’t think that measure would be as interesting as seeing which articles you actually felt were worth the contribution of your opinions – now that measure seemed like fun to me.

What did I learn from pulling this list together?

You people seem to love controversy!

9 out of the top 10 most commented posts of 2009 cover controversial topics – from blogger-bashing by wine media big-wigs, to hot topics in the wine-writing/blogging, wine consumption, and wine appreciation, you folks like to state your opinions… and I love ya for it!…

Read the rest of this stuff »

Well… this is… interesting.

Fellow wine fanatic and blogger Robbin Gheesling passed this tidbit onto me earlier this week:

Remember Anthony dias Blue?  He’s the guy who just this past summer had this to say about wine bloggers:

“…bitter, carping gadflies who, as they stare into their computer screens and contemplate their dreary day jobs, let their resentment and sense of personal failure take shape as vicious attacks on the established critical media.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Seems he might have changed his mind – dias Blue is currently scheduled to give a talk on wine blogging at the upcoming VINO 2010 Italian Wine Week in New York.

Here’s the skinny from the program:

Seminar # 7
Room: Louis XIV  Suite (4th Floor)
Presentation: “Blogging on Wine and Social Networking: New Tools in reaching
Consumers of Italian Wine ”  
Moderated  by:    Anthony  Dias  Blue  ,  WCBS  Radio,  journalist  and  author,  Los
Angeles, California

WTF?!??

I don’t want to disparage the guy the possibility that his tune on wine blogging has changed – and I sincerely hope that it has.  I just really, really, really hope that dias Blue has had a bit of self-revelation and has seen a turn-around in his thinking since July, or this might get really ugly, really fast. 

Because the last thing that wineries, PR, and media need to hear is that blogging and social media aren’t important or are somehow full of “barbarian… militant bloggers” (his words, from July), because both are patently false.

Cheers!

(images: gayot.com)

Earlier this week, I could have had wine signed by Philadelphia Flyers bruising legend Dave “The Hammer” Schultz.

Dave’s wine, that is.  The Hammer Chardonnay.  Given Dave’s playing reputation as an enforcer, I’d hope that this Chard packs at least 14.5% abv and is an oak & fruit bomb that will knock you squarely on your ass after two glasses.

[ Editor’s note: I met The Hammer once.  He’s a very big and imposing man and I want to make it very clear that I am not making fun of him.  Thanks. ]

Dave’s wine is part of the NHL Alumni Signature Wine Series – wines that bear the picture and signatures of hockey greats like Gordie Howe (another Chard bottling), Wendell Clark (a Canadian-only Merlot) and Pat LaFontaine (a CA Cab) – the proceeds are divvied up among a few charitable causes:

“There are three charitable components to the NHL Alumni Signature Wine Series™ wine program. First, a portion of the proceeds from every bottle sold will be donated to the charity of each player’s choice. Second, each of the teams’ Alumni Associations will receive a portion of the proceeds to be further donated to the charities of their choice. Finally, a portion of the proceeds will also benefit the NHL Alumni Association’s “Hockey’s Greatest Family Fund” which helps bring together former players to support charitable causes, assist former players in life after hockey and generally promote the game of hockey.”

The wines are made by Ironstone Winery and distributed via MyWinesDirect.  I haven’t tried them yet, and I’m not holding my breath over it, either – both Dave Schulz and Bobby Clarke are legends in Philly, but thanks to the Communist-like liquor sales setup in the Flyers’ home state, those living in PA won’t be able to have the wines shipped to them. Oh, the irony…

Personally, I view this as a logical guy response to Paris Hilton’s wine-in-a-can.  What do you think about celebrity wine and the NHL series?  Let’s hear it in the comments!

Cheers!