What Condition My Condition Was In (Most Popular Posts of 2023)
It’s that time of year again… when I lazily look back and recap the most popular posts here on 1WD over the last twelve months.
As we drop in to see what condition our condition was in during 2023, a bit of context: I am excluding the (mostly) weekly mini-reviews from this assessment, as I don’t really consider them to be feature pieces for the blog. Some of them got serious traction as far as normal 1WD traffic numbers go, but there’s not much to opine about them in a recap, and so to the exclusion list they go.
The Top 10 Most Popular 1WD Articles of 2023
10) May the 4th Be With You (Tasting Skywalker’s 1st in SF, Among Other Things)
The Force was definitely strong with this one, presumably because it featured my partner in crime Jonathan Cristaldi, the inimitable Tonya Pitts, and a sparkler that’s literally associated with Star Wars. And I am sure that the adorable pics of my youngest didn’t hurt this article’s numbers, either!
9) Asolo Miiiiiooooooooo (Getting to Know Asolo Prosecco)
Top-tier Prosecco hasn’t lost any steam among 1WD readers by the looks of it, and this introduction to Valdobbiadene‘s high quality (but often less expensive) neighbor proved a favorite for wine lovers visiting 1WD this year. To which I can only say, Cheers to that.
8) Movin’ On (Bad Company’s Paul Cullen Takes On Wine Again)
Hard-rocking music took a center stage (ha!) on 1WD and, as you’ll see below, somewhat dominated this year’s most popular entries, starting with this recap of a meetup I had with former Bad Company touring bassist Paul Cullen. This indefatigable fellow is at it again with his new lineup of crowd-pleasing Italian bottlings, and they’re delicious.
7) Jumping (Back) Into the Wine Certification Debate for NVWA
Controversy? Here on the Top 10 list?!? NEVER!!! During my stint writing for Napa Valley Wine Academy, I took on a defense of wine certifications after a sort of hit-piece about them was published on Vinepair. The bottom line? Wine certs aren’t going anywhere anytime too soon.
6) All In The Family (Checking Back In With Domaine Bousquet)
You guys love Argentina’s Domaine Bousquet. This impressive producer seems to have a knack for scheduling tastings that intersect with major life events for me, so I’ve got a soft spot for them, as well. It certainly helps that almost everything they offer punches above its weight-class in terms of value for price.
5) A TIE!!!
Wine In The Time of Coronavirus, Part 68: The Last of Us? (Reviewing Rimessa Roscioli Selections)
My last in the lockdown tasting series proved to be one of the most popular, this time focusing on the interesting selections from one of Italy’s more interesting wine endeavours, Rimessa Roscioli. When in Rome, apparently you should be doing as the Romans do and visiting their store…
What We Drank For The Big B-Day
This one was dedicated to my partner, Shannon. I’d like to think it did well because of my writing about appropriately gorgeous, sexy wines (for celebrating an incomparably gorgeous, sexy lady), but its popularity probably had more to do with pics like this.
4) ?? UP THE IRONS!!! ??Join Me (and Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson) In Portugal For Wine Future 2023
This one was stacked from the get-go. A great conference addressing important and controversial topics, a lovely venue (in Portugal), top placement on the website as a “sticky” post, and of course Bruce F*cking Dickinson from Iron F*CKING Maiden!!! So, yeah, this was always gonna be in the Top 5. More to come from me about the Wine Future 2023 conference in the new year, so stay tuned.
Another NVWA piece that ended up generating a bit of controversy, though in this case it was in the form of someone claiming that I’d stolen their content for my article, which, of course, I didn’t. Hopefully that didn’t take away from the important message that Washington State is killing it right now in terms of quality wines.
2) WTAF Just Happened?!? (An Insider’s View of Judging the 2023 Grenaches du Monde Wine Competition)
By far the strangest wine competition I’ve ever been a part of, the 2023 Grenaches du Monde was equal parts fun and head-scratching frustration. The idea behind it is a novel one and a natural development after the Covid pandemic lockdowns, but it needs some tweaks!
1) What the Wine Business Needs to Hear (or “Holy F–king Sh-t! Bruce F–king Dickinson!!”)
Pretty much everyone in the U.S. wine industry picked this one up. I’d like to think it’s because of my long-standing body of work writing opinion pieces about how the wine biz has done a disservice to younger generations of potential wine consumers, but it’s probably because of the flashy title and, well, Bruce F*CKING Dickinson! Not gonna lie, there’s a very happy fifteen year old kid inside of me who is still giddy about having met Dickinson, and Iron Maiden albums have been on heavy rotation at 1WD HQ ever since (not that they ever weren’t, but whatever).
Cheers, and Happy New Year!
