So You Want to Write about Wine for a Newspaper?

I've been writing a wine column for a weekly newspaper that covers Lake Tahoe, The Tahoe Weekly. Started this in April 2009 when the editor, an acquaintance from a sailing event, called me and said "yer on".

This is a labor of love (read: unpaid except a small fee that really just covers mileage) and it has been a challenge to figure out a cogent editorial calendar that gives justice to all the places around the Lake that are involved with wine: wineries in Placer-Nevada-El Dorado-Amador counties; wine shops; wine bars/bistros; and great restaurants with sommeliers and world-class wine lists.

It has been fun -- but each column takes 8-10 hours to do, between drive time, interviews, writing, getting photos. No room for deadline slippage either -- it's a small staff at the newspaper and they run a tight ship. What have I learned from this experience? Stay tuned.