Grape Sense debuted eight years ago this month in a small handful of newspapers. Crawfordsville, Frankfort, Seymour and a couple of others were the first to sign on.

Eventually I picked up a couple of large weekly newspapers, including the suburban Hendricks County paper near Indianapolis, and a couple of nice mid-size dailies. Anderson, Marion and Terre Haute represent the largest cities carrying the wine column. Today the count is at 22 newspapers. They all run it at different times and with different presentations. One paper runs it only on its website.

The newspaper column has become the foundation of my wine writing. The column has opened up opportunities to write for a couple of different national wine publications. It certainly was responsible for landing me on a handful of press trips including several in France and a couple to California.

But the column has also opened doors to winemakers, winery owners and members of the wine press.

Online efforts and social media dominate much of the wine writing world. There are few regularly published print columns about wine. Last summer I attended the national Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Barbara, California, and many of the bloggers were amazed that my lineup included a regular print column.

It seems newspapers still have some gravitas. And by the way, every column – today is No. 180 – I’ve written in eight years is on my website. You can go to categories on the left side and pull down a year and see all the columns. (www.howardhewitt.net)

The column does spur occasional email and inquiries from you — the folks who read it in their local newspaper. People often ask about places they should visit in Napa/Sonoma or some other regions. Sometimes it will be questions about where to buy better wines. And, sometimes it will be wine-specific inquiries from the readership.

What I’ve learned from inquires created here, social media and in person is that people remain hesitant to ask questions about wine. Too many folks are afraid their question is silly or not important enough if the inquiry isn’t about great wine. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’ve written this often but the definition of a great wine is a wine you like. That’s all you really need to know. One thing I’ve learned, along those lines, is to appreciate a wine for what the winemaker wanted to create.

No, I don’t care for most of Indiana’s sweet wines. But I have learned to taste them, evaluate them according to my palate, and then be able to say the wine is well made or not.

And a word about Indiana wine that I continue to write. There is a lot of well-made Indiana sweet wine. But there is a reasonable amount of well-made dry Indiana wines too.

For those who want to learn a little more and expand their palate it’s really easy: drink more wine. Wine drinkers need to be adventurous and buy different brands and new grapes, and try to vary the price point at least a little. Follow those simple steps and you’ll learn a lot.

Wine is meant to be enjoyed with good friends and good food. Experiment. Share. Enjoy.

 

Howard W. Hewitt, Crawfordsville, Indiana, writes every other week about wine for more than 20 Midwestern newspapers. Reach Howard at: hewitthoward@gmail.com