Wining & Dining – The Sediment Guide to Wine and the Dinner-Party.

I always like to hear about the “side projects” of other wine bloggers…but I also read into these ventures a little more than I probably should.

Blogging needs to start from a passion for a given subject. If the passion isn’t there, the blog will surely die. Blogging is also an evolution, one which opens-up said blogger to numerous other opportunities. Opportunities which, I promise you, no-one understand that more than my good self!
The number of prospects which have arisen from my own website(s) are too numerous to mention. Everything from photography projects, to web design and even TV gigs. I have to remind myself of this whenever I occasionally feel less than enthusiastic about writing a blog post. I certainly wouldn’t be doing 90% of the gigs that I thoroughly enjoy without this website.

I digress.

The reason for my little preamble was I’m sure my sentiments will be echoed by my good friends CJ and PK of the Sediment Blog. They have undertaken one particular side-venture, one which no-doubt was a spin-off of their blog….and one which no-doubt may not have ever come about without their blog.

In case you haven’t happened to stumble across their website, I’ll fill you in on the deets. [I don’t know why I just wrote “deets.” It makes me think of something a 15 year old girl would write.]First-off, they’re British…which is always a bonus in life! :) Secondly, CJ and PK are published journalists and authors, with newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio appearances and several books to their individual credits.

The premise of their ebook “Wining & Dining – The Sediment Guide to Wine and the Dinner-Party” is based around the “social minefield” of a dinner-party, and the role that wine plays. It’s not a subject which hasn’t been covered a thousand times, but their English witticism and oh-so-British dry sense of humor is. They offer such advice as:

“Always taste the wine when cooking. Nothing to do with flavors – it just numbs the fear of cooking.”

and

“If you want to find a wine that goes with game, you will find it mentioned on the back labels of dozens of wines, despite the fact that hardly anyone actually serves game. The winemakers think it will sound as if the aristocracy drink this wine, after their shooting parties.”

The asking price for their ebook? $2.99…about the price of a really crappy glass of plonk. Hell! Buy a copy for a wine-loving friend! It might be one of the few non-wine wine gifts which won’t end up being returned!