Welcome to Dave McIntyre's WineLine on Substack

Unfined, Unfiltered and Unfettered News and Views on Wine

Hello, and welcome to this latest incarnation of Dave McIntyre's WineLine. I'm relaunching here on Substack because, well, it's a time of new beginnings for me, and I never liked blogging on WordPress or any of the other platforms I’ve tried over the years. Substack seems simpler, as well as a place to find sympatico writers and readers.

New beginnings: I recently retired from the dream freelance gig of any wine writer as I left The Washington Post after more than 16 years writing the wine column in the Food section. At the same time, I retired from my federal government job after 22 years of public service. So yes, I’m taking this “new chapter” stuff about retirement seriously. And I’ll have a lot more time to post here. I don’t want to give up wine — or writing about it — altogether, after all.

Skip this history if you’re in a hurry: Dave McIntyre’s WineLine started as an email newsletter in 1999, before anyone had coined the word “blog.” I had been wine columnist for two years for Microsoft’s Sidewalk DC, until Bill Gates decided it wasn’t going to make money and abandoned his idea of providing cultural content on the Internet. (Not too long after that, someone invented banner ads, and the concept of providing editorial content became profitable. Ol’ Bill was too far ahead of his time.) Robin Garr posted some of my early stuff on his Wine Lover’s Page. I tried Blogger, then Typepad, then finally WordPress, never mastering the art of blogging, as I have zero desktop publishing skills and no assistants to do it for me. Along the way, I published articles in WineToday.com, Wine Enthusiast, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine section, and a few local D.C. publications. I also had paying gigs as restaurant reviewer for DC Modern Luxury, wine columnist for Washingtonian magazine, and beginning in October 2008 as the weekly wine columnist for The Washington Post. WineLine suffered as a result, because well, people were paying me to write.

Now that I’m free to do as I want any ol’ time, I’m going to give this another go. There’s still a lot to say about wine.

So here’s what you can expect: (Come back in if you skipped the history part!) As the tagline above says, WineLine will offer unfined, unfiltered and unfettered news and views on wine. Together we’ll look into a glass of wine to see culture reflected in its color, we’ll sniff history in its aroma, and we’ll savor its colorful palette of stories. (See what I did there?) There will also be politics — I guess that’s the dregs — but never partisan, other than unabashedly pro-wine and anti-BS.

Those who followed me at The Post know I’m fascinated by the effects of climate change on wine, which were apparent before wildfires and the severe weather of recent years. I favor environmental certifications, while respecting their weaknesses, and applaud wineries that take those extra steps to help their communities and the planet. You’ll find more of their stories here.

Oh, and local wines, of course. Now that I have time on my hands, I plan to get out more to explore the Mid-Atlantic wine scene. If you don’t live in the Mid-Atlantic, I hope you will still read and enjoy those posts.

I don’t subscribe to the view that “wine is just fermented grape juice,” or that the cheaper the better. Nor do I glorify expensive trophy wines. I will from time to time recommend specific wines I think you might enjoy, not as a “critic” but as a friend sharing a special find.

You will also find humor. For the past few years I’ve poked fun on Facebook at some of the sillier comments on my Post columns. Those may reprise here. And sometimes we just take wine, and ourselves, too seriously. But I hope that won’t deter anyone from commenting here on Substack — I’d love to spark a respectful conversation. Wine is about connection, after all. It’s not nearly as delicious without someone to share it with.

For now, this publication will be free, though I am including Substack’s Pledge button to see if anyone might be willing to pay for a subscription. Once I establish a writing rhythm, I may consider the subscription model. Income would be incentive to continue, after all.

One thing I sincerely hope you won’t see much of here: Listicles. Though to be honest, I might try a few just to see if the numbers really do go up.