Comic relief combined with educated insights. It's not very common in the wine blogosphere or in the entire realm of wine writing, for that matter. There is a compulsion to treat wine and the business of wine very seriously. It is, after all, art in a bottle and the artists and their patrons need to treated with respect.
I'm not sure how much respect Ron Washam has for the art or its patrons. However, I do know that he's both witty and insightful (and biting) when he writes at HoseMaster of Wine, a blog that the veteran sommelier and wine consultant started up last month.
Washam explains on his blog that he "spent, OK wasted, 30 years learning about and teaching about and swallowing wine. Now I'll see how much you can swallow of my nonsense. I know more about wine than David Sedaris and I'm funnier than James Laube."
From what I can see, his assessment of David Sadaris and Jim Laube are true.
It's hard to nail down just exactly what Washam is trying to do with HoseMaster of Wine. If you linger over his initial posts you'll fine wine reviews, insights into his daily life, scantily clad women, biting social and political commentary and a well-regulated disdain for the excesses of the industry he works in. It's all very, very entertaining.
It's quite clear that he is having fun with HoseMaster of Wine and it's equally clear that the Blog already ranks with me as among the most interesting reads in the wine blogosphere. Just when I think one of Ron's posts is about to go completely off the rails, he pulls back on the reigns and gives me a peak into what an experienced wine profession sees when they look at it through wine stained glasses.
HoseMaster of Wine is a bit like Page Six of the NY Post but for the Wine Industry and wine drinkers.
If you are looking for a regular dose of wine wrapped in social commentary, the occasional head nod toward men's weaknesses and a good laugh, all wrapped up in good writing, Ron Washam's HoseMaster of Wine is for you.
