By Carl Giavanti
Alice Feiring launched her ongoing website, The Feiring Line, in 2011. She is mostly known as an author, writing six books to date. The first was 2008’s The Battle for Wine and Love: Or How I Saved the World From Parkerization. She followed that up with Naked Wine in 2011, a narrative romp through the history and the personalities of vin naturel. In 2016, she penned For the Love of Wine, her odyssey through the world’s most ancient wine culture. In 2017, the subsoils of the vineyard got elevated in The Dirty Wine Guide, written with the help of Master Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier. Natural Wine for the People was published in 2019. Her latest book, a memoir, is To Fall in Love Drink This, from Scribner, published in August 2022.
Feiring is also an essayist and journalist, and a past correspondent for Wall Street Journal Magazine and Time, and currently freelances for a never-ending parade of publications, including The New York Times, Town & Country, Wine & Spirits, World of Fine Wine, Noble Rot, Afar and Food & Wine, among others, from her tenement apartment in New York City.
How did you come to wine, and to wine writing?
It was all accidental. I moved to Boston in the late ’70s to study dance/movement therapy. I already had an interest in wine, but my roommate wanted to be in the biz. So our apartment became wine tasting central, two times per week. That went on for several years until I took over the orchestration. By the end of a decade, I kind of knew something but also returned to NYC (where I’m from) to become a writer: novels, plays and journalism, which included food, design and wine. By 2000, I had quite a few wine clips. I also had my first book out and had discovered the harms of chemical viticulture and industrial winemaking. That’s when everything changed and there was no escaping.
What are your primary story interests?
Stories in and around natural wine. Wine Technology. Human stories. Farming. Wine Philosophy. Climate Crisis wine-related stories. Culture. The “Why this story?” “Why me?” and “Why now?”
Is it possible to make a living as a wine writer today?
Unless you’re lucky to be on staff as a columnist, no. I suppose that answers the question, I’ve succeeded in reputation but not in selling enough books to make a difference. Case in point, how many of my 8 books have you read? I got lucky because I have a rent stabilized apartment.
You self-describe as “feisty.” What would people be surprised to know about you?
That I used to do a lot of tango, I play fiddle and accordion (if badly), and I’m intensely dyslexic.
What haven’t you done that you’d like to do?
Publish a novel. Teach writing.
What is one thing you’d like your readers to learn from your writing about wine?
That wine is just the metaphor — and one of the best ones to carry a story.
Can you describe your approach to wine writing and/or doing wine reviews?
I mostly disguise complicated notions of wine through plot lines — even if it’s my own life. I also hate writing wine reviews, and that’s why I started to charge for my newsletter/Substack.
What prompted you to move your blog to Substack?
It’s simple. Substack is more discoverable. My website, which I’m very proud of, by the way, is one of the industry’s best secrets. And it’s in Substack’s interest to help promote me. Also, the website is far more expensive for me to upkeep. In truth, I love it much more. However, it was a hard decision.
Do you consider yourself an Influencer? What’s the difference today between a writer and an influencer?
I have a lot of influence but god knows, the notion of an influencer is terribly offensive to me. An influencer poses and makes themselves a celebrity even though they won’t necessarily have done the work or put in the time to acquire expertise. Being a writer is a lonely job of sitting on one’s ass or pounding the pavement to get the research, facts and story done with an immense amount of rewriting (if you’re me) to make sure the story is as well told as possible. We’re talking weeks or months or years of work instead of putting something through an app and slapping it up in a stylish manner.
What are your recommendations to wineries when interacting with journalists?
Do your research about who you’re pitching and why and why now. Can I tell you how many pitches I get about, “If you want to know why natural wine is so popular today?” The PR person or winery has no idea who I am. But I just love it when someone knows what I look for and brings me a great story. That person earns my respect — and there are not too many people out there who do that.
What advantages are there in working directly with winery publicists?
I haven’t in years. Most of the wineries I deal with do not have publicists.
Which wine personalities would you most like to meet and taste with (living or dead)?
Maynard Amerine. Louis Pasteur. Martin Ray.
If you take days off, how do you spend them?
I rarely take a day off. Not my thing. But shopping and cooking is high on the list. Or going off to find a story, but that’s hardly taking time off.
What is your most memorable wine or wine tasting experience?
Hard to pick just one, but probably my first Bouilland Wine Symposium with Becky Wasserman in 2002. In 2007, a DRC dinner. And going to visit Kenjiro Kagami in 2019.
What’s your cure for a wine hangover?
Spitting.
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Carl Giavanti
Carl Giavanti is a Winery Publicist with a DTC Marketing background. He’s celebrating his 14th year of winery consulting. Carl has been involved in business marketing and public relations for over 25 years; originally in technology, digital marketing and project management, and now as a winery media relations consultant. Clients are or have been in Napa Valley, Willamette Valley, Walla Walla, Columbia Valley, and the Columbia Gorge. (www.CarlGiavantiConsulting.com/Media)
