Happy New Year!

As the inevitable march of time proceeds along a path that might be undefinable, humans choose to mark this any number of ways. We need events, dates and celebrations because they help us grasp moments, helps us feel as if we have stopped time's march. Our creations, which have no impact upon time itself, allow our minds to believe we're in control, even if only for a brief instance.

So 2011 will be here, for me it'll arrive in about 14 hours and my mind will recognize the pseudo-significance of a place on a calendar where one number becomes another.

In the past week I saw many bloggers write about their top wines of 2010, top posts, top stories, etc. Other bloggers chose to write resolutions, basically a statement of intent that until executed, remains something intangible. Each of those themes has merit and, when properly done, can be insightful and entertaining for the reader.

I want to make a list of resolutions, wine-related of course. Unfortunately any list I made would be incredibly long, boring, and be basically the same as any other wine blogger's list. So here's a concise breakdown of what I intend to do in 2011:

1. Educate myself on wine from places like New York, South Africa, Canada, Greece, Austria and other lesser known wine regions.

2. Read more books, especially educational tomes from Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. See how that dovetails into #1? I'm already going off on a tangent!

3. Get that "how important is this?" WSET certification going. I want a cool little image to put on this blog.

4. Write more (interesting) blog entries. Why is this so far down the list, you might ask? Simply because I love WINE before I love wine blogging and I like to think I have my priorities in order.

5. Educate myself on the wine culture here in San Diego and the County. I think there is the beginnings of something and would like to learn more about what's going on.

6. Write more about food. I like the food blogs I write, they're a good outlet for the frustrations I feel in the kitchen, mainly due to lack of knowledge and lack of skill. Only way to get around that is to cook more, and document it.

I think that's enough, and my coffee cup is empty so I should wrap this up. Some of the things not present on my list are: wine country travel, wine career, beer blogging, and cooking classes. They're things I want to do but in the interests of a short list, I had to end at six statements of intent.

Please have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, and a prosperous, fun and wine-filled 2011. To most of you, I hope we meet sometime in 2011 and to those whom I have already met, I look forward to seeing you again.

Cheers!

Beau Carufel