Heading into tomorrow’s inevitable ugly, I-want-to-rip-out-my-own-skull painful hangover, we’re going to take a quick look back on 1WD for 2013, get pensive and reflective for a few moments, and then get back to drinking.

And so this year, we change up that retrospective look yet again (in 2012, I went with the Ten Most Shared 1WD articles, and in 2011 the Ten Most “Popular” as measured by comment count). For 2013, I decided to go with the ten most viewed articles, which exposes what you non-commenting, non-social-media-sharing lurkers are looking at when you peruse 1WD (hey, Dude don’t judge). And, of course, this is really just, like, Google’s opinion, man; I’m not saying that these are the best 1WD articles of the year, they’re probably just the ones with the most SEO and eye-catching headlines, after all. But they weren’t some kind of visitor trap, at least not according to Google: the #2 and #1 slots had astonishingly high average times for readers spent viewing them, which is probably a function of me writing sh*t that’s just way, way too long.

Here they are, the Ten Most Viewed 1WD Articles of 2013, in ascending order of viewer-ing (sp?)…

10) What The New Generation Wants From A Wine (A View From The Argentina Wine Awards Global Seminar)

This one is as close to a free international social media consultation as we’ve come here on 1WD.

9) IntoWine.com’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. Wine Industry 2013 (And How Long Will No. 1 Stay No. 1?)

I know, I know, I can’t figure out how I got so high on that list, either, but IntoWine.com again managed to do what good lists always do, which is to get people talking.

8) On The Death Of Sommelier Journal (Or “The Nigh Impossibility Of Building Wealth As A Wine Writer”)

This one struck a chord, apparently; I suspect that chord resonated particularly with underpaid wine writers everywhere, and those aspiring to become underpaid wine writers. There’s a silver lining to the story, as Sommelier Journal is apparently being rebranded, and expanded. No word yet on the fate of my Crete feature, though…

7) Wine Competition Myths Busted (California State Fair 2013 Commercial Wine Competition Results)

The CA State Fair is a big enough target, but when you throw in controversial findings and data, the target starts to look side-of-the-barn sized…

6) Domaine De La Romanee-Conti 2010 (Yeah, We’re Actually Going There)

The only really non-controversial entry on this list, voyeurs and vicarious livers (in both senses of the word?) wanted a view on whether or not these wines live up to they hype (they do).

5) What We Learned From The Fulvio Bressan Debacle

What we learned is that the wine world is too competitive for us to entertain buying wine from people who act like jerks publicly. Bressan has since apologized, by the way, which for me means it’s open season again in terms of tasting those wines (unless is apology wasn’t sincere, in which case I strongly suspect we’ll know about it again, and publicly).

4) In Defense Of Natalie MacLean

The title was sarcastic; what she did is inexcusable unless/until she offers better explanations of the facts.

3) Why Social Media Advice From Traditional Wine Media Is Almost Always Wrong

Well… it is…! This one touched off several different tangential discussions on Facebook, twitter, other blogs and of course right in the comments section here on good ol’ 1WD.

2) California Winemakers May Routinely Use Formulas To Achieve Certain Scores

While lots of insiders reacted with a “well.. DUH!” this was fresh news to a lot of consumers, and it ruffled many a feather of wine people who would rather not expose these tactics to the open air. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with it provided the motives are to make better wine that the proprietors, winemakers and consumers stylistically want.

1) Boomers And Busts: Sobering News For The U.S. Wine Business in 2013?

God bless data, it forces those of us who don’t have to use belly-button windows (think about it) to rethink what we assume that we know. In this case, data from SVB bank had me rethinking the future of the wine market in the U.S. This one had legs for me, as the results became part of my keynote presentation at the Nederburg Wine Auction in South Africa. I guess it had legs with a lot of other folks, too, though many probably just hung on the sidelines to watch the more vocal among us argue about it.

Cheers – and have a Safe and Happy New Year!