This summer season, I introduced that I had left my place as a contributing editor at Wine Fanatic journal and famous that I might have extra to say about what comes subsequent sooner or later. That day has arrived.
Going ahead, I can be dedicating virtually all of my efforts to this house, writing about and reviewing wines from the Pacific Northwest. It will embody a variety of adjustments that I’ve detailed right here.
I’ve rebranded this web site as Sean P. Sullivan’s Northwest Wine Report.
Going ahead, the title of this web site is Sean P. Sullivan’s Northwest Wine Report, or extra merely Northwest Wine Report.
Why the change? It’s meant to replicate that I can be protecting wineries and wines from your entire Pacific Northwest, together with Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.
The title Washington Wine Report has served me very properly for the final 18 years, and I don’t make this transformation calmly. Nevertheless, I don’t need to give the misunderstanding that my focus is solely on Washington. In reality, I’d been making ready to make this transformation 10 years in the past earlier than I joined Wine Fanatic, as I started to cowl Oregon on this house. The time is true to make this shift.
The next can be my objectives with the positioning.
My intent with this house can be:
- To supply in-depth reporting about wines, wineries, vineyards, and people in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia
- To assist individuals choose Northwest wines at a wide range of value ranges by offering goal, well timed, blind tasted wine opinions
- To assist individuals plan journeys to wine nation by offering details about Pacific Northwest wines, wineries, and wine areas
- To attach individuals to the bigger wine group
I’ll now be reviewing wines once more on this house.
As soon as I started protecting all of Washington for Wine Fanatic, I paused reviewing wines right here. From this present day ahead, I’ll as soon as once more evaluation wines on this web site.
Wines can be reviewed utilizing the 100 level scale. You may see how I outline scores within the 100 level system right here. Notice that this may occasionally differ from how different publications outline their scales.
I’ll proceed to style wines blind in a managed setting.
As I did at Wine Fanatic, I’ll proceed to style wines blind in a managed setting. I’ll proceed to style in small, varietal units as I’ve beforehand accomplished.
You may learn detailed details about how I style wines for evaluation right here. I’ve additionally offered in-depth element on interpret my scores right here. You too can learn musings about “who cares about wine scores?” Wineries can examine submit wines right here.
Certainly one of my focuses can be on goal, well timed wine opinions.
Tasting wines blind provides objectivity to opinions. My objective right here will even be to make the opinions well timed.
For the previous 10 years reviewing for Wine Fanatic, I’ve usually tasted wines inside two weeks of them being submitted. Nevertheless, working for a print publication, there was then a a number of month delay earlier than these scores have been printed.
Working independently, I can publish opinions rather more rapidly. I consider that it will present a greater service to shoppers and to wineries. It’s also higher aligned with the benefits that the digital house gives.
The content material of this web site will change.
Through the previous 9 and a half years, I’ve targeted most of my efforts on writing and reviewing for Wine Fanatic. What I’ve written there has considerably impacted what I’ve written right here in a variety of methods.
Writing for a nationwide publication, one by necessity wants to have a look at the whole lot by way of the lens of how attention-grabbing a selected story can be to a nationwide viewers. Furthermore, if I didn’t really feel – or my editors didn’t really feel – {that a} explicit story would resonate with a nationwide viewers, I seldom had time to write down that story elsewhere. Because of this, what I’ve written on this house has been a really small subset of what I might have preferred to write down.
Previous to writing for Fanatic, I took the place that if one thing me, I might write about it, and hopefully my readers would discover it attention-grabbing as properly. I can be taking that very same method once more. This gives for the chance for rather more various subject material.
Going ahead, my intent is to give attention to a variety of topics. These will embody however usually are not restricted to:
Producer/winery profiles – This can be in-depth seems at producers and vineyards in addition to updates on the most recent goings on on the two. This isn’t one thing that I actually had the chance to do at Wine Fanatic. Lengthy-time readers will recall that that is one thing that I used to do usually on this house.
Business information – These can be at instances breaking tales and at different instances updates on issues happening within the wine business.
Function-style tales – It will equate to the full-length articles that I wrote for Wine Fanatic or what I used to name ‘Focus Stories’ at Washington Wine Report previous to my time at Fanatic. These can be in-depth tales a few broader subject.
Wine opinions – As famous above, I can be reviewing wines on this house. I will even be offering, in some circumstances, producer updates with these opinions.
The frequency of posting will change.
For the final 9 and a half years, I’ve written content material for this web site when I didn’t have paid work at Wine Fanatic or when there was one thing I wanted to speak that didn’t match there. That essentially led to a big lower within the frequency of articles, the place they grew to become “usually irregular.”
Now that this web site can be my most important focus going ahead, the frequency of articles will enhance. New content material will develop into common once more.
I’ve made adjustments to varied pages.
Along with the adjustments talked about above, I’ve made vital adjustments to varied different pages, together with the About web page and a wholly new Assertion of Ethics web page. Please evaluation them. I will even be re-publishing a few of these pages as articles within the coming days to extend visibility.
The location will quickly be transferring to a brand new platform.
At current, the positioning has the identical feel and appear because it has the final a number of years, simply with a brand new title. This feel and appear will change after I migrate to a brand new platform within the coming months.
The location will in the end comprise sections which can be subscription primarily based.
Now that I’m working independently, my intent is to make a part of this web site freely accessible and different components subscription primarily based. Most if not all the writing can be freely accessible. Most wine opinions will in the end be subscription primarily based. I do that in order that I can commit as a lot of my efforts to this web site as potential and ship to everybody the perfect content material I can. I don’t intend to simply accept any type of promoting on the web site.
Permitting for subscriptions would require a platform change in addition to different adjustments to this web site. I count on these adjustments will seemingly take a number of months to finish.
My intent within the interim is to offer individuals a way of the writing, opinions, and different content material. It will hopefully give individuals enough time to determine in the event that they in the end need to subscribe to the positioning or not.
Content material is rarely really free.
Please perceive that we stay in a society the place numerous content material is freely accessible. Nevertheless, that isn’t to say that it’s actually free. Usually websites offering such content material are making their cash elsewhere, reminiscent of from promoting or from capturing e mail addresses. Furthermore, the individuals writing the content material are usually very poorly paid.
As somebody who writes for a residing and has for greater than 12 years, I consider that high quality writing and content material are price paying for. My hope is that you’ll agree with me. That mentioned, I nonetheless intend to make a good portion of this web site freely accessible.
* * *
I need end by saying that I’m extraordinarily enthusiastic about all of those adjustments. I sincerely consider that they may enable me to higher serve my readership in addition to the Pacific Northwest wine business.
When you have any questions or considerations, please remark right here or contact me.
