A Year on Substack
And a Big Thank You to My Subscribers
This is a big heartfelt “thank you” to anyone who opens this email, reads or shares this post, and subscribes to this newsletter. Also, a request for your advice.
It’s been a year since I started here on Substack. This on-again, off-again newsletter, blog, whatever you call it, started in 1999 as emails to a few friends and contacts, then migrated to Blogger, Typepad and Wordpress, languishing on each platform, mostly neglected as I concentrated on articles for various publications and my Washington Post wine column from 2008 to 2025.
I began here with about 750 email addresses imported from my Wordpress account. About 100 of those quickly unsubscribed when they started getting emails with new posts, but other subscribers found me. As of today, nearly 2,900 people subscribe. Enough of those are paying subscribers to keep this interesting and to get me onto Substack’s “rising” and “new bestsellers” lists a couple of times. (I have screenshots to prove it!)
These numbers are impressive to me, though I have no concept of how they relate across Substack or other platforms.
The growth in subscriptions has been slow and steady, with a huge bump in early November after Lettie Teague recommended this newsletter in her Wall Street Journal column. One paid subscriber who joined in the aftermath opened my next two posts and decided he disagreed with Lettie. He filed a fraud complaint with his credit card company. Oh well.
Where you live, and what (else) you read
My subscribers live in 48 states and 63 countries. California leads with 20 percent, followed by Virginia, New York and Maryland. South Dakota and Arkansas remain unconquered territory. I have one reader in Taiwan, India and Russia(!), while the U.K., Canada, France and Australia top the list.
In audience overlap, 16 percent of you also read Tom Wark’s Fermentation. Close behind at 14 percent is Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, which impressed me until I realized that’s the single-most subscribed newsletter on Substack. So she probably shows up on everyone’s list. But as a dedicated daily reader myself, I’ll take it.
Despite the market downturn, I’m still finding wines and regions to get excited about.
Last year we covered The New Prohibition, the impact of President Trump’s tariffs and immigration policies on the wine community, and some more conventional wine topics. In 2026 we will have several anniversaries, from the 250th of the Declaration of Independence to the 50th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris. Some iconic wineries will be commemorating their own anniversaries as well. And, at least according to today’s annual report from Silicon Valley Bank, we may begin to see better times ahead for wine to counter the doom & gloom of the last several years.
Despite the market downturn, I’m still finding wines and regions to get excited about. This might be the year of Cabernet Franc, as New York and Livermore Valley, California, promote some really exciting examples. Virginia seems to be leaning into Cab Franc a little more than red blends in recent years. I’m also enjoying fantastic Chardonnay and sparkling wines from Oregon, and I’m always looking for exciting wines from the East Coast.
How you can help (besides continuing to read, of course!)
I’ve never imposed a paywall, and I don’t want to. But I would like to offer something extra to paying subscribers. This could be tasting notes or news items in the Chat feature of this newsletter; it could also be video happy hours or live discussions with people in the wine industry. Please let me know in the comments here if any such extra would appeal to you as a paying subscriber, or even make you consider becoming one.
And if there are subjects, wines, regions, winemakers you would like to learn more about, please let me know. You may see a reader survey from me about potential topics, so I hope you will respond. But don’t wait — please tell me in the comments here. Engagement is important, and tells me much more than the Substack stat that a certain percentage of subscribers opened a post.
And finally, I didn’t do a year-end list, but I’ll start this year with one special wine I enjoyed last spring on a visit to the Finger Lakes. Let’s just arbitrarily call it the “Wine of the Year for 2025.”
That would be the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard Flower Day Riesling 2024, the first Demeter-certified biodynamic wine from this historic property and most likely the first from the U.S. East Coast. Owners Fred Merwarth and Oskar Bynke have been keen on disproving the common wisdom that organic or biodynamic viticulture is untenable on the East Coast because of the humidity and the varied climate. This is off-dry, aromas of peach, apricot and jasmine, wonderful ripe fruit flavors of same, great balance and length. Just a lovely wine. Yum Yum Yum! And yes, when I brought a bottle home and enjoyed it away from the winery, I enjoyed it on a flower day. $27 from the winery. 11% abv.
Dave, congratulations on a very successful first year. I followed much the same trail along different timelines - 25 years at Wine Enthusiast, a decade at Seattle Times, two separate runs as a blogger, and finally exclusively on Substack, now entering year four. I'd say your numbers are quite good given that we both are operating in a niche market. But very few Substackers disclose those numbers so it's hard to tell. A couple of thoughts - often a subscriber will disable email - not the same as cancelling a subscription. Also - there are subscribers and followers. If you combine those numbers you get a better idea of your totals. As for free vs. paid - I too give it all away for free, but still get some welcome support from paid subscribers. About 10% of the total. I tried a paywall a couple of years ago and didn't like it because it shut out the majority of readers from the best material. Do you use the Notes feature? I'd suggest putting the question up on Notes - what would you readers want as a bonus for paid subs. See what they say. I'm still wrestling with that same question with no definitive conclusions. Last but not least, many thanks for the recommendation which has sent quite a few subscribers my way. You're no Lettie Teague but.... (insert grinning emoji here...)
Unfortunately, Lettie Teague and several other WSJ columnists and reporters were laid off yesterday. It's incredible! Lettie has been such an important voice about wine.