{"id":9300,"date":"2021-04-25T04:44:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T08:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wine365.com\/?p=9300"},"modified":"2021-04-19T14:30:33","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T18:30:33","slug":"bryce-wiatrak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wine365.com\/stage\/bryce-wiatrak\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryce Wiatrak"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Sunday Spotlight <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Shedding some light on your favorite wine writers.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bryce Wiatrak<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bryce Wiatrak is a professional wine journalist based in San Francisco. He presently works as a staff writer at GuildSomm<\/i>, the leading wine education non-profit and trade publication. In 2015, Bryce was awarded the second inaugural Young Wine Writer Fellowship by Antonio Galloni\u2019s Vinous<\/em>, where he later served as a junior editor. Bryce\u2019s work has also been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>, Wine Spectator<\/em>, Wine Enthusiast<\/em>, and Wine & Spirits<\/em>, among many other publications. Bryce earned his Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale University, as well as a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. What was your first job as a writer?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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My first job as a writer also happened to be my first job as a wine<\/em> writer. I first entered the wine industry on a serendipitous whim the summer before my senior year of college. My plans had fallen through, but I found an internship posted on our college job board for a wine publication called Bottlenotes, which is sadly no longer around. I had just turned 21 and knew nothing of wine at the time\u2014beyond that I enjoyed it\u2014but somehow was offered the position. I moved out to California for the summer and fell quickly in love with the topic of wine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. What led you to becoming a wine writer?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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It really was complete good fortune that I fell into a career of wine writing. While that first internship was certainly unexpected, I continued to pursue wine journalism due to the positive experiences I had that first summer. My very first editor was Wine Bible <\/em>author Karen MacNeil\u2014who is the greatest mentor anyone in wine could ask for. What really drew me to a long-term career in wine is that it is a true Renaissance person\u2019s field. Biology, geology, chemistry, philosophy, religion, art, history, politics, economics\u2014wine exists at their confluence. It\u2019s a very narrow lens through which you can study the whole world.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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3. What kind of reader do you have in mind when you\u2019re writing?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This completely depends on the outlet for which I am writing. For the last several years, I\u2019ve been a Staff Writer for and publish primarily on GuildSomm<\/i>, a wine education non-profit and trade publication. Our readers enjoy getting geeky, which provides me the luxury of going into incredible depth without the confines of a word count. The readers for the San Francisco Chronicle <\/em>or Vinous<\/em> also tend to be quite educated, though it\u2019s essential to remember that they\u2019re mostly consumers, rather than the trade. At my first job, Bottlenotes, I wrote a lot more 101 content. It\u2019s a trickier task than one might imagine to boil down a complex topic to its key points, and it\u2019s a privilege to help people start out on their wine journeys.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Read Bryce’s article here:<\/p>

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4. Where is the most magical place your wine writing has brought you?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I\u2019ve been fortunate to travel to places I never dreamed of going for work\u2014everywhere from New Zealand to Hungary to Uruguay. It\u2019s hard to pick a single destination\u2014and I\u2019ll never tire of Tuscany or Burgundy\u2014but the most transformative trip I\u2019ve been on was to Israel, Lebanon, and Cyprus. In the last half century, each of these countries experienced intense political unrest\u2014often on opposing sides\u2014that threatened their wine industries. I visited all three in July 2019, and it was fascinating to observe the duality of their ancient wine traditions with a much more recent push toward modernization. I always enjoy seeing a region in transition, and though each country\u2019s wine culture has a unique approach to the 21st century, their narratives share much overlap.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Bryce Wiatrak<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Wine Journalist, GuildSomm<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Follow Bryce on Social:<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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5. What was one of your favorite articles to write, and why? <\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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One article I\u2019m particularly proud of was on the revival of indigenous grapes. The article was rather large in scope, and in it I was able to document the history of varietal diversity; the science of grape identification; a tour of more than a dozen countries and their movements toward commercializing their autochthonous cultivars; and an investigation into how these varieties are diversifying the New World. It\u2019s a long read, but I learned so much in writing it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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6. What is the best advice someone has given you on your writing? <\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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While I\u2019ve had many exceptional editors and professors over the years, I\u2019ll never forget what one of my high school English teachers told me. She said always to consider \u201cso-whatness\u201d in your writing. It\u2019s very easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of any given topic, but I find that to be particularly true with wine\u2014vintage conditions, soil types, regulations. Although it\u2019s important for a wine writer to have a solid foundation in the theory of wine, I also think it\u2019s essential to remember why does wine matter to you. Everyone will have a different response, but keeping that question in mind will lead to more fulfilling work and better stories.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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7. What would you be doing if you weren\u2019t writing about wine?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I actually trained as a professional opera singer! My first years in the wine industry ran parallel to my graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Opera remains very dear to my heart and an essential part of my life. Few things give me as much joy as the feeling of singing Mozart.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Nominate someone for Sunday Spotlight:<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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