An Interview with Texas Wine Writer, Russell Kane, PhD

I first met Russ Kane during the first North American Wine Bloggers Conference held in Sonoma, California in October 2008.  Being part of a gathering of wine enthusiast writers, it was par for the course to have met a number of people having a wide range of knowledge and involvement in the wine industry as well as hailing from different parts of the country.  Immediately, however, Russ struck me as different from much of the pack of attendees in that he was visiting from an unlikely wine-producing region: Texas.  In and of itself, it might have not elicited much more than a raised eyebrow and a mild, though fleeting, sense of curiosity on my part.  But because of his avid involvement with the local industry, coupled with a deep sense of pride for his home state, Russ readily demonstrated a great deal of knowledge about the wines of Texas that instantly caught and held my interest.  I spoke with the writer and publisher of wine blog Vintage Texas to get a deeper sense of his perspective on how the Texas wine industry has progressed in the last few years, where he sees it going, and what it all means for the wine consumer.

An Interview with the Editor & Publisher of Mutineer Magazine

Consumer interest is shifting.  The current global economic state of affairs notwithstanding, industry stalwarts — companies like Motorola, Sony, and even Microsoft — are gradually losing their grip on the very products with which they've became dominant in the command for consumer currency and attention.  Why?  Because they've obstinately and tenaciously clenched onto the market paradigms they spawned, but which are showing prominent signs of age.   And so it is with the mainstream of print media (the bankruptcy of Tribune Co. being but one prominent tip of the iceberg) and the niche of wine media, in particular.  An increasingly prominent reality is that these periodicals are steadily their losing their relevance on the landscape of wine journalism to emerging alternatives — media with more contemporary voices, versatile platforms, and compelling content.  Traditional media's flippant disregard and arrogant disdain towards these newer players only accelerates their arguably imminent demise.  While they allow the band to play on, fresher alternatives are taking root and growing strong.  Could there be a bit of a mutiny underfoot?

An Interview with Wine Poet Joseph Mills

As an avid city dweller who was born and raised in the urban jungle, I'm not fond of the outdoors.  I don't take much of an interest in nature, barely noticing the myriad of greenery prevalent here in Northern California.  But my passion for wine has compelled me, a number of times, to hike the sometimes steep slopes of dusty vineyards, peering closely at vine shoots and leaf canopies, and examine with fascination and reverence the clusters of curiously small berries hanging from them.  With that same enthusiasm, I was recently drawn to another area of otherwise complete disinterest for me: poetry.  I never was a fan of it, frankly hated it in school, and honestly can't remember the last time I voluntarily read any as an adult.  But because the subject of Joseph Mills' recently published Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers involves the subject so near and dear to my heart, once again out of sheer curiosity, I felt compelled to suspend my aversion and begin reading some of his work.  What I found was an experience that tickled, touched, and in some cases, totally transported me.  In writing about wine, Joe's sensitivity, humility, creativity, and imagery are perhaps the closest I've come to experiencing wine, without actually drinking it.  I spoke with the author from his home in North Carolina, where he's a full-time professor of English, about his book of poems and his own unique perspective on wine.