LENNDEVOURS Turns 3 Today

In some ways, it feels like only yesterday that I started this blog with a short, not particularly interesting post. And it turns out that LENNDEVOURS has become something that I never intended or could have imagined.

For one, it’s become almost exclusively a wine blog, and one focused on the wines of New York State. I never expected that, but it happened organically, on its own and from the beginning I said that I’d kind of let this whole blog thing take me where it wanted.

Second, never in a million years did I think that my early wine writing here at LENNDEVOURS would lead to various paid writing gigs for publications like Dan’s Papers, Hamptons.com, Appellation America, Long Island Wine Gazette, Long Island Press, Edible East End and Edible Brooklyn.

And most of all, I certainly never expected to attract a fun, loyal following of readers the world over-many of whom can’t even get the wines that I write about. That’s probably the thing that I’ve found most amazing. People are coming here to read what I’m writing, even though they can’t taste the wines that I focus on. Pretty cool.

The most exciting project of the past year, the New York Cork Club is building up membership slowly but surely and let me tell you-we’ve got some terrific wines that we’ll be sending out in the next few months. Who would have thought that I’d be choosing wines that are being sent out to  people all over the country? The power of blogs continues to impress me.

Wine Blogging Wednesday has continued to grow and evolve to the point that it’s time for a slight change in the event that I’ll announce soon. It’s a change for the better and I’m excited about it.

To my readers, thank you. I’m proud of what we’ve built here together in three short years. All of the comments and emails that I get from all of you bring me more joy and pride than you’ll ever know. I’ve learned at least as much as I’ve educated and all I can offer is a sincere thank you.

So what’s next for LENNDEVOURS? As always, I’ve got a lot of plans in the hopper, but over the next year you can expect at least some of the following to happen:

• The 1st Annual LENNDEVOURS Harvest Party. I tried to pull one together last fall, but it never materialized. This year I want to make it happen, either at a local winery or B&B. Details to come this summer.
• More Industry Contributors. I’ve really enjoyed having my contributing columnists Rich, Charles, Donavan and Chris write here on LENNDEVOURS. Hopefully I can line up a few more people this year and get them to write a little more regularly.
• A Complete Redesign. I’m an incessant design tweaker but I think that I’ve grown tired of the way this blog looks. If I can find some time, I hope to revamp it completely, and maybe even change blog platforms.
• "Hire" a Chef. I’d really like to find a like-minded local chef who will contribute recipes and collaborate with me on local food and wine pairings.
• More Feature Stories. Too often I let the publications I write for get the more interesting things that I write. No more. This blog probably has the highest readership anyway.
• An Editorial Calendar. Right now, I run this blog in a completely haphazard, random way. If I have something to write about on a given day, I write about it. I think I can improve this blog dramatically by being a bit more organized and imposing a schedule for myself.
• A New York Wine Email Newsletter. This is something I’ve been thinking about for at least a couple of years. Maybe this is the year that it happens. Maybe.

Thanks again for all of your support, readership and friendship. At this point, I can’t imagine not having this blog, so maybe we’ll be here for another three, ten or twenty years.