Alder Yarrow is a US wine and restaurant blogger based in San Francisco, California.
Yarrow’s wine blog, Vinography was launched in the relatively early days of wine blogging, in 2004, and has since become one of the very most highly rated, and famous wine websites.
In a quick Q&A interview, we’ve asked Alder to tell us a little bit more about him and his wine blog.
Meet Alder Yarrow of Vinography:
Q: Can you summarize who you are and what your wine blog does?
A: I’m a wine lover who decided to start a wine blog as a personal project and ended up turning into something of a legitimate wine writer. I write about wines and the wine world somewhat haphazardly, following my own interests and my own palate to places, people, and wines that have something to say. I also try to help my readers keep tabs on what’s going on in the world of wine with news digests and editorials about the world of wine.
Q: When did you start your wine blog and why?
A: I began my wine blog in 2004 as a personal project with two aims: first, to find out what blogs were all about, and secondly to have someplace better to put my scribblings about wine other than the Moleskine notebooks that were accumulating (and largely going unread) on my shelves.
Q: What topic(s) does your blog cover and how do you generally describe the angle to your writing?
A: I tend to write about what interests me, and that’s usually the people and the places behind wines. I have wide ranging taste in wines, from the most esoteric Savoie whites to big Napa Cabernets and everything in between. But what makes wine meaningful and memorable are the stories of the folks who grow it and the ground it grows in. I’d say I write for the passionate wine consumer more than the novice, but I’d like to think my writing is accessible to people with a wide range of wine knowledge. You have to be a bit of a wine nut to go reading wine blogs, so I assume I share a little bit of geekiness with my readers.
Q: What are your favorite wine events? In other words: if fans would like to meet you in person someday, where are they sure to find you.
A: Unfortunately, with my day job running a design agency (ciboglobal.com) I don’t get to go to nearly as many wine events as I’d like to. I try not to miss the annual Gambero Rosso tasting when it comes through town, and I’ve never yet turned down an invite to the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon.
Q: What are your favorite social media channels, the ones you like most to exchange and engage around your content?
A: I tend to spend most of my time connecting with readers on Twitter and Facebook.
Q: Finally, what do you do to relax outside of wine?
Wine writing IS my relaxation. People laugh when I say that wine writing is what I do instead of knitting, but it’s really true. When I want to do something just for me, I sit down with a glass in hand and start writing.
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