Austin Texas Wine Society
Wine doesn't need
Wine doesn't need
an advocate.
It needs a witness.
The Opener. The Argument. The Bottle. The Fiction. The Question. Every Wine Wednesday. Free.
Read the Argument
Three pieces. In this order.
The Argument
When Everyone Turns Right, Turn Left
This will change how you buy wine
The Story
Chapter 1 of Viña Fantasma
This is where the philosophy lives
The Proof
Field Notes: William Chris Vineyards 2023 Cinsaut
This is what actually happens in the glass
What this is
Three forms. One standard.
01
No B.S. Wine
The central argument. Essays that cut through the noise and give you clarity on what wine actually is.
Start here →
02
Field Notes
The applied practice. Real observations of how a wine behaves over three nights — no food, no decanting.
See it in action →
03
Fiction
The explored context. Stories about power, risk, and what it costs to make something real in a place that doesn't believe in you.
Enter the world →
The Fiction
Two novels. One worldview.
Novel Two
Viña Fantasma
West Texas, 1981. A vineyard on the edge of losing everything. Jesse Clay planted vines in soil nobody believed in, in a place that didn't believe in him.
Begin Chapter 1 →
Novel One
The List of 1855
Bordeaux, 1855. The list is already on the wall. A clerk named Étienne copies names into a ledger that will outlast everyone in the room.
Begin Episode I →
I work in industrial HVAC. Wine has nothing to do with that. It never did. But writing about it honestly — without the scores, the borrowed language, the performance — became something I couldn't stop doing.
Most nights I write after my son goes to sleep.
Co-founder of the original Austin Texas Wine Society. Husband. Father. Observer. Tired of the noise.
Read the full story →