Yet Another Wine Blog.

[Steve Holmes]

My blog 'In Search of Nirvana' is all about my move from the UK as an expat to the sunny Maltese Island of Gozo. I have enjoyed writing it very much, I sometimes have a problem trying to think of something worthwhile to write about. I normally manage one or two posts a week. The blog has a small following and I get a respectable 500 hits each month now which considering I make very little attempt to drive people to the blog is quite reasonable. Now the question is could I justify starting a second blog.

I am a bit of a wine geek as anyone who knows me will tell you, and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the wine front when it comes to the famous wine regions of the world, France, Italy, Australia etc. A region not much talked about until recently, are the wines of Malta and Gozo and whilst there are hundreds of blogs out there on the subject of wine in the various regions, I have not found any that cover Malta and Gozo (I stand to be corrected if anyone knows any different), so I thought I might start one now. This would enable me to enhance my knowledge on the subject of Maltese wine and at the same time help those that may have a desire to learn a bit more about Malta as a wine region.

I would like to keep the content interesting and without jargon, or where jargon is required it will be explained. I would like to be able to play my part in promoting the wines of Malta both inside and outside the borders of these islands and remain as impartial as possible. I am thinking interviews with wine makers and highlighting the many restaurants that take the serving of wine as seriously as the serving of their food. I would like to involve people at all levels in wine tastings pitching local wines against other regions of the world in blind tastings.

What do you think, is there room for another wine blog, if so what would you like to know, what would be of interest to you. Take a few minutes to let me know either by email or via comments on this blog.

[Steve Holmes]

Hi Reno, Thanks for the invitation I have indeed signed up. The wines discussion topic looks good I am sure that I will be contributing in the coming days. The reluctance of winemakers to give you time of day may have somthing to do with the possibility that you may name and shame one of their wines or cause offence to one of their customers, always a problem when diplomacy gives way to honesty. Keep up the good work.

[Reno Spiteri]

Hi Steve,
I have recently started a group on Facebook titled: Restaurants in Malta:The Good;The Bad; The Rip-Offs.
The purpose of the group is to try to create in restaurant patrons (us for that matter) an awarness that they should look for quality and demand it. Comments are invited with name of restaurants whether they are considered good or bad or a general rip-off in prices against quality and service.
I have started a discussion topic called WINES which I edit myself. Wines are tasted blind against a benchmark wine and then it is reviewed. No wine will be recommended by us unless we try it ourselves and considered to be of high quality, and no adverts are accepted.
You suggested interviews with winemakers in Malta. I contacted the top four. Two were extremely co-operative; one asked me in for a meeting and then they decided not to participate although I can review their wines good or bad if I want to as a consumer, and another one did not even bother to reply to my e-mails. Excellent wouldn't you think so?
You're welcome to join the group if you wish. Any comments will be appreciated as I am always looking forward to expert and knowledgeable advice to improve the group's information.
Best regards.
Reno