After years of hard work, Doris MacDay has become one of the pre-eminent North American wine writers, on a par with Ontario’s Natalie MacLean and Maryland’s Robert Parker jr. Doris was kind enough to speak to a representative of R2B at the conference afterparty.
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| A rare image from 1997 of Ms MacDay, taken from her original Netscape-hosted website |
Doris: “My pleasure!, I scan your blog and hundreds of other amateur and professional wine websites with interest, and am happy to have a chat!”
R2B: "You are one of the most revered and recognised
wine writers in the southern suburbs of Winnipeg, and your website – www.DorisMacDay.com.bs is one of the fastest growing subscription wine websites in Manitoba. How do you
find the time to come to events like this on top of writing those numerous one
sentence reviews padded by unattributed secondary reviews?”
Doris: "That’s a great question, and how kind of you to
mention my global reach. In short, I am very good at managing my time. On top
of managing my website, I bake, I cook, I garden, I taste numerous bottles of
wine from producers who are loyal ‘Plankton Premium’ subscribers to my site:
there is ‘just’ enough time in the
day to do all the things I need to. I also have dedicated staff that help and
support me. They assist me in the sometimes arduous task of finding an even mix
of reviews to copy and link, as well as all the other miscellaneous
administrative tasks required to run my website." R2B: "Out of interest, what do these miscellaneous admin tasks consist of?"
Doris: "Oh, plenty of random things! Receiving and registering wine samples, checking them off with the ‘Plankton Premium’ membership lists, disposing of wines from wineries who have refused to subscribe to my site, ensuring my research staff are meeting their review search quotas. Lots of things."
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| One of the many www.DorisMacDay.com.bs internet research centres spread accross North America: Another industry-leading method that makes the site pre-eminent in Southern Winnipeg. |
R2B:" On your website you proclaim to be the ‘Greatest Wine Writer in the Universe’. Who bestowed you with this amazing honour?"
Doris: "I will always cherish that award - it is giving me chills just thinking about it. It was the North Carolina Chenin-Blanc Appreciation Academy who awarded me the honour 13 years ago, and only 11 years ago awarded me the same honour for a second time. It remains one of my proudest achievements, especially given how much respect I have for that Academy. Wow."
R2B: "What advice would you give to budding wine writers
interested in adopting your one sentence wine review methods?"
Doris: "The first thing I would say is research, research,
research methods of padding out your review. When you are writing so many
reviews you cannot be creating new, descriptive and vivid content every time.
It can be a surprisingly exhaustive process to pen a 15 word review. Secondly, keep
it general. Finally, ensure your researchers can link to some really good
reviews from other wine writers that add credibility to your one sentence
review – unattributed of course."
R2B: "Why the insistence of the linked reviews being
unattributed? Isn’t it beholden of you to attribute the work of others....?"
Doris: "Hang on – you’re not one of those pesky Palette
Wine Presser investigative journalists that have recently been hassling and harassing
Canadian wine writers are you? I am sick of your snooping and tomfoolery!!! ……I
am assuming your promise to sign up to my Plankton Premium subscription was a lie as well...... This interview is over! (Doris stormed off towards the
drinks table and the interview was ended)." |
| Recent video footage of Doris MacDay debriefing the Manitoba Wine Appreciation Society after her trip to the Chicago Wine awards- LINK |
** Any ambitious wineries seeking global/Universal exposure can send free wine samples to RedtoBrown Wine Review. Please contact the RedtoBrown Revenue Maximisation Section(redtobrownwine@gmail.com) . Links to previoulsy published reviews of the wine would be appreciated.
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