When we first started OddBallGrape.com, we wanted to write the kind of wine blog that interested us. We’re not only passionate about wine, we’re very curious about it and we wanted to focus on the wines and grapes that not everyone else was focusing on.
We’re pretty hard-core wine geeks, after all, and love to find a new variety or taste something different. Part of that is because Mike is an amateur winemaker, himself, but that only enhanced our curiosity about wine. If you want to put a Napa Cab in our glasses, we’ll drink it and happily, too. But there’s so much more to wine than Napa Cabs.
As time went on, we realized a couple things. Not only were the grapes, such as Nebbiolo, and Norton, and Blaufrankisch, getting short shrift in the traditional wine press (come on, has anyone ever heard of Picpoul?), so were a growing segment of winemakers, namely women and people of color. Also, while tasting notes have their place, they really weren’t that interesting to read or write. That’s why we shifted the focus of the blog to wine education and decided to feature the folks making the wines that aren’t getting heard as often for no good reason other than the industry’s focus on traditional winemakers.
We love popping the balloon of wine snobbery and doing real tests on different gadgets and gizwatchies that folks try to sell us on. And we also love books and reading. Well, Anne does write murder mysteries, so pairing books with wine also seems to be a natural part of what we do.
You’re not likely to find tasting notes on vastly overpriced wines here. In fact, you probably won’t find too many tasting notes, in general. But you will learn more about the wines you know, and maybe find out about some wines you haven’t thought about before. You’ll learn to trust your own palate because it’s ultimately what you like, not what we think you should.
And, finally, you’ll be introduced to some fascinating and amazing characters all working one way or another in the wine world.
Dive in. Click around. Talk back at us.
Wine is wonderful fun, but what makes it the best is sharing it with others.
Anne Louise Bannon and Michael Holland
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