Dividing Fractions and The Curse of 20+ Years of Wine Writing

How my boy taught me not to fear repetition in my writing

There may be some other independent wine writer who has published more articles than I have over the past 20 years. I just don’t know who they are. This fact isn’t a tribute to me or my prolificacy. In fact, it’s probably more a testament to some sort of weird compulsion in me that is driven by unexamined psychological forces.

The problem started in 2004 when I launched my blog, “Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog”. That site, which, like this Substack, focused on the confluence of wine with culture, business, and media, was finally abandoned in 2022. It was then that I moved on to Substack.

I note this as I observe that this month marks my 21st year writing about the wine industry, and as I creep up on my 4,000th article. That seems like a lot.

The bulk of these 4,000 articles are housed and still available at my former blog: Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog. Since transferring my writing to Substack, I’ve published just under 500 articles, leaving the other 3,500 sitting quietly over there.

I returned to my former platform to take a look at those articles. Here’s why that was a mistake.