It has been a while since I’ve had the time, and frankly desire, to write on this website. This could be an omen but maybe the right time will come along again. The pull to produce podcasts again is getting stronger. Since this website was started merely as a front for the podcasts, I still dream of returning to that medium one day. It’s even better now that I won’t have to explain to everyone what a podcast is.
The big reason for delaying blogging and podcasting is because I have been working on a new book! The Sipsters Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines will be released this September. It is a new style of wine book and talks about wine in a fresh, candid, and conversational way that goes beyond the standard descriptive tasting notes. To me, Sipsters represents a new way to communicate about wine that is freed of the limited and technical vocabulary of wine education (“medium acid”, “aromas of berries and tar”), the cliches of wine sales (“patio sipper”, “pizza wine”), or the manipulative spin of marketers. We are very lucky that there are some amazing wines in BC being produced right now. Describing them by their aromatic components and flavours seems outdated to me now but more importantly, I believe that it misses the point of the wine experience.
For the three or four of you remaining that have been following since the podcasting days, you will probably see this book as a natural progression of the philosophy on wine appreciation that the gang and I used to do on the podcasts all those years ago.
And now, the cover reveal…
This book will be published by Touchwood Editions from Victoria. I going through the second round of proofs and they have done a fantastic job again. Touchwood published “The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide: 6th Edition” that I co-authored with John Schreiner and was published in April 2020. Since that was right at the beginning of the pandemic, we could not do any events to promote it but hopefully you’ve seen that book on the shelves already.
I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Cheers from wine country…
~Luke
Wine Country BC 
Where will we be able to find these books to purchase?
They will be available at bookstores, wineries, and likely online through the usual channels. I will be posting links and availability as soon as I know.
Congratulations. I will recommend that all my friends buy a copy especially those who live in BC.
Looking forward to the release, Luke. Summer has not even begun and September can’t arrive soon enough.
Cheers!
Thanks Leslie! I’m sure the fall will be here sooner than we think.