Another Wine Blog?

Executive Chef Brian Steinway of the Christiana Creek Country Club in Elkhart and White Oak Winery’s (California) Will Hunter talk wines with Carl Tiedemann

So, why another wine blog, you ask? A great question and one that I have spent some time contemplating in the last month or two. I did a little research on wine blogs and found that there are perhaps a thousand or more out there. What I discovered when I first started collecting wine and building my own wine cellar a number of years ago, which was in response to my growing passion, and maybe at times obsession, to wine…I discovered that as your wine knowledge grows and people know about it, they generally have lots of questions to ask you about wine.

As many of you know, I started a wine distribution company two years ago and I have spent a great deal of time educating myself about wine and wine making over the years. But I found that when I “officially” got into wine as a “business,” the learning curve was very steep. And so I thought that a blog would be a good way to further my education by listening to what questions you have and doing the research to expand my knowledge and, at least, to address the many questions I get asked on wine and food and the culture surrounding wine. I also want to invite my good and valued friends, from wine merchants to chefs to collectors, to comment on the world of wine, and I want you to share your passion and knowledge for wine with me and others through responses to the wine blog.

Well in the beginning, this wine blog is going to be about our area: Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. I have discovered there isn’t a wine blog that talks about our local restaurants and wine lists, and the local people who bring you wine. People like Stan Minden from Chalet Party Shoppe and David Thompson from City Wide Liquor or the people behind the scenes who search out wines to bring to the marketplace such as Jay Fields at Indiana Liquors or Patrick Wittling at Carroll Wine & Spirits. So in the beginning I am going to create a Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan-focused blog and expand as opportunities arise and time permits to maybe a wider geographic area here in the Midwest. So many of my friends have asked me great questions about wine and sometimes I stumble through the answers. But many times I’ve got an answer and I’ve cultivated relationships where we can even delve deeper to get answers to the tougher questions if I don’t have those answers.

My collecting of wines for my wine cellar and the fact that I now produce three wines in Napa has provided me many opportunities to meet people and to become associated with folks who are in the wine business in Napa Valley. And my good friend, Didier Loustau has been key in helping me build many relationships in the valley area. One of my goals is to use this blog to bring a slice of Napa Valley back to our area. I want to assist people in learning more about Napa Valley and the wines from that area, and to introduce you to some of the small, boutique vineyards that we do business with like Three Clicks, Vinoce, Eric Kent, Larkin Wines and other such small wine producers there in the valley. And because of my relationships there will be other opportunities to introduce you to restaurants, wine makers, wine sommeliers and wine activities in the valley area. So there is much to do and talk about and I thought this blog would be a great way to do that and to bring Napa Valley to Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.

There will be a couple other focuses of our blog; I want to feature local and Midwest-based chefs and report on their relationship to wine and how it influences their cooking. And I want to focus on restaurant wine lists not only locally but in other areas throughout the Midwest (places like Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis)…who knows…wherever we can get someone to talk to us about their wine lists at places we frequent. Certainly I want to give you lists from Napa Valley restaurants, in the heart of wine country. My wife Emilie and I big fans of Chicago and our frequent travels to the city have allowed us to establish roots and relationships in the restaurants that we frequent. We want to share these lists with you and learn about the wines available. So when you are in one of these fine cities and select a restaurant for dinner, perhaps over time you will be able to go to Tiedemann On Wines and call up the library of wine lists to see if we have that particular restaurant’s wine list available. There is much to do and much to talk about. I hope in the months and years to come, you will enjoy this wine blog and we can share our thoughts, comments and passions on wine. I hope you enjoy this blog. I hope you enjoy the wines we make. And I hope that you find value in what I write here. Cheers.