Introduction

This blog started as a journal that I began keeping in summer 2008 to track my venture into commercial wine production with the Ritual brand name. I enjoyed recording my thoughts and experiences and sent out chapters to a very limited group of people (usually just my girlfriend Adina and stepfather Joe).

Both my Adina and Joe enjoyed the chapters and in fact eagerly anticipated my regular installments. From July through early December I generated over 75,000 words, roughly a 150+ page book. These entries covered not only my nascent adventures as a wine negociant, but also my feelings about wine and past experiences as a wine drinker. The pace of writing slowed a bit in 2009 but there's still quite a bit. I'm still flling in the blanks and I'm still behind in terms of editing and posting existing content as well as getting caught up with current events. kepp checking back, I'll try to keep things refreshed.

There are certain entries that I have edited for the online version. In many cases I'm very free with my opinions of wines and people I like and dislike. I have removed any pejorative references to wines, wineries, winemakers, journalists, etc (I kept the complimentary ones) as I feel that's uncalled for in this story.

There's not much here about my private life here, and what there is relates directly to my wine experience. I have two motivations for publishing these entries at this time. The first motive is that I'm proud of the writing; upon rereading it I find it entertaining, and the story is an interesting one. The second motive is much more base: any publicity I can get for Ritual Wine Company is welcome and maybe some readers will be inspired to pick up a bottle or two. The 2008 reds are out now and some 2009s will be out in Fall  2010,  They are in fact very good, so I'm confident that once the word spreads I can make this thing happen.

Mike Stan